POSSIBLE TAINTED CHICKEN FEED!

[16 paws]

Hello,
Has anyone out there had a few of their flock die a sudden death? I have and it started about 6 months ago. The first was my roo. His feathers looked puffed up in the morning and he was dead by that night. Then about 2 months later a perfectly healthy RIR was dead in the coop when I got home from work. Looked fine in the morning unless I missed something, and dead in the afternoon. About a month later I lost two hens within a week. I finally got smart and sent the bodies to USD for a narcropsy. The first one died of malathion poisoning and they said the second died of something called LL which is from a virus. I now believe this was from tainted chicken feed. At first I thought maybe my neighbors were poisoning them( long story, they do not like the chickens), but now I heard from someone that several types of animal feed have been found to have malathion in them. Anyone else had a problem or heard anything? I dont know if I am allowed to say what brand of feed I was using. I am going to call the company tomorrow morning. I am outraged if this is true. We do not use anything like malathion on our property and we have lived here 15 years so where did she get it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Marie

 

[Wyleiria]

I had to look up malathion because I didn't know what it was. I have not had any of my chickens die, and I am using about 4 different types of feed (I like variety).

Anyways, I don't know what state you are posting from, but when I read about malathion, it reminded me of a time when I was a child and had three pet laying hens. I came home one afternoon to find one dead. It was not acting sick or had any injuries, it was just dead and I never knew why... Now I have my suspicion.

I lived south of Houston, texas at the time, and we would have mosquito fogging trucks come down the neighborhoods every couple of weeks. I read that malathion was used. Could this be why my healthy hen just dropped dead? Perhaps. Do you have mosquito control trucks? I live in a different part of the state in the country so we don't have those anymore, but I never considered them being a hazard to my birds... Something to think about anyways.

 

[16 paws]

I had to look up malathion because I didn't know what it was. I have not had any of my chickens die, and I am using about 4 different types of feed (I like variety).

Anyways, I don't know what state you are posting from, but when I read about malathion, it reminded me of a time when I was a child and had three pet laying hens. I came home one afternoon to find one dead. It was not acting sick or had any injuries, it was just dead and I never knew why... Now I have my suspicion.

I lived south of Houston, texas at the time, and we would have mosquito fogging trucks come down the neighborhoods every couple of weeks. I read that malathion was used. Could this be why my healthy hen just dropped dead? Perhaps. Do you have mosquito control trucks? I live in a different part of the state in the country so we don't have those anymore, but I never considered them being a hazard to my birds... Something to think about anyways.

We are in southern California and I have not heard of any spraying around here but I will try and find out. I did call the department of pesticides and they will be calling me back and hopefully do some kind of investigation.

About your chickens, yes I would think that would be very harmful if they sprayed above them. It will kill birds.
Thanks
Marie