Poisoned mouse causing anorexia and molting? Non-emergency

[Zud]

I was having some concerning issues with our Black Australorp (Emily Chickenson) over the past month + and a little. I'll include links at the bottom to the threads of trying to figure out what was going on if anyone wants the full history, but in short:

-started with a pale comb and loss of feathers around the vent
-despondency (for lack of better term)
-followed quickly by anorexia and extreme weight loss (I had to sit with the hen and make sure she *eats* - literally spoon feeding in the beginning. When she free ranged it would look like she were foraging but she'd always have an empty crop)
-stop in egg production
-eventually there was some molting (all 5 hens are 9 mos at this point so this seemed unusual)
-intestinal shedding found in feces

Now, we tested and treated for parasites (all tests came back negative) as well as respiratory issues. Observed for bullying and boredom. Nothing seemed to line up completely and nothing seemed to clearly be helping. Eventually she began to slowly improve and is now doing well.

Now we are having a second chicken, our Welsummer (Chikira) going through an almost identical pattern of symptoms. I have been scratching my head trying to figure out why only these two chickens are having this issue and not at the same time.

And then our friend told us he witnessed Chikira eating a mouse along a fence with a neighbor when we were away a few weeks ago, just before this began with her.
And I remembered that Emily had eaten a mouse along that fence just before she began having issues.

We do know our neighbor uses mouse poison to deal with a particularly bad mouse problem in the home of one of his tenants, also our neighbor, and - unsurprisingly - the house that shares the fence line where the mice were found.

To be clear, the timeline of symptoms for both chickens has been over weeks, and not beginning immediately - in both hens it was over a week after first eating the mouse before noticeable symptoms, but almost identical in relation to when eating the respective mice.
Is it possible that the poison could have been causing some gastro issues and then the stress has led to molting? Or does this seem far fetched?

Either way I'm going to offer a sample of MouseX to the neighbor and see if he'll consider switching. If it was the poisoned mice, it's undoubtedly affecting other wildlife or outdoor pets in the neighborhood.

Anyone else have anything like this happen?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...feather-loss-after-eating-mouse-help.1556032/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ead-shaking-empty-crop.1558814/#post-26505932
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/roundworm.1559092/

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

From what I know of rat poison it causes animals to bleed to death internally. I would find out from the neighbor what brand they use then call the helpline on the packaging and ask them. They're usually very helpful. Then lock your chickens in the run until you sort things out

 

[Zud]

From what I know of rat poison it causes animals to bleed to death internally. I would find out from the neighbor what brand they use then call the helpline on the packaging and ask them. They're usually very helpful. Then lock your chickens in the run until you sort things out

Yes. Different types of poisons cause different painful deaths. There's different treatments for animals that are in contact with those poisons depending on what type, and the treatments tend to be traumatic, though less traumatic than death, I suppose (even the Tom cat brand has different formulas that do different things and in case you were wondering, the color of the poison is irrelevant to that, apparently) Mouse poison is typically considered less harmful to secondary animals (what I'm going to call the animal that eats the poisoned animal) than rat.

Again, both chickens are on the mend, eating the mice was a while ago, and if the neighbor switches to MouseX (which isn't harmful to any secondary animals) it will solve the problem.

I'm just trying to figure out if it makes sense that this could be the cause and if anyone else has had a similar experience.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Yes. Different types of poisons cause different painful deaths. There's different treatments for animals that are in contact with those poisons depending on what type, and the treatments tend to be traumatic, though less traumatic than death, I suppose (even the Tom cat brand has different formulas that do different things and in case you were wondering, the color of the poison is irrelevant to that, apparently) Mouse poison is typically considered less harmful to secondary animals (what I'm going to call the animal that eats the poisoned animal) than rat.

Again, both chickens are on the mend, eating the mice was a while ago, and if the neighbor switches to MouseX (which isn't harmful to any secondary animals) it will solve the problem.

I'm just trying to figure out if it makes sense that this could be the cause and if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I understand. My dog got into a neighbor's rat poison so I think you will have better results calling the company that makes the poison. They will be able to tell you if what you're experiencing is from the poison or not.

 

[Zud]

You're right. It couldn't hurt to know for the future.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Let us know what they say! Glad your girls are on the mend