PSA: Found poisonous mushrooms in my chicken pen

[Nif]

I agree to think of them as all potentially dangerous. I was thinking about everyone saying they are going out to pick these things...hope everyone remembers to wear gloves so that we don't accidentally poison ourselves!

One thing is for certain when it comes to mushrooms...they are hard to i.d. Best to weigh on the side of caution!

Amanita Muscaria, the Fly Agaric mushroom, can come in a number of different colors, including blood-red, orange, yellow, and beige.

Good point pixiechic...they can vary greatly.​

 

[dragonlaurel]

Quote:
Portage-
The big ones might be puff balls- edible or Amanita-Death Angels. My husband accidently mixed them up once and barely lived. Put gloves on , cut it open and look for gills. A Puffball has no gills. Get an expert to double-check though if you are thinking about eating them.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
Portage-
The big ones might be puff balls- edible or Amanita-Death Angels. My husband accidently mixed them up once and barely lived. Put gloves on , cut it open and look for gills. A Puffball has no gills. Get an expert to double-check though if you are thinking about eating them.

Oooh! I hadn't planned on eating them, but now I'm curious so I'm going to cut one. Thanks!

 

[hoppychicken]

Oh my! Lots of mushrooms a few months ago. I had a 4 year old cat die mysteriously and the neighbor's cat almost died from eating something. He has neurological damage (bad mushroom trip maybe) and 90% blind and he falls over and has seizures. The vet thinks it is something he ate. I am going to give my neighbor this post.

 

[Nif]

I had a 4 year old cat die mysteriously and the neighbor's cat almost died from eating something. He has neurological damage (bad mushroom trip maybe) and 90% blind and he falls over and has seizures.

Oh, that's a huge bummer. Most of the deadly 'shrooms in my book have a very shiny/slimy appearance.​

 

[georgem]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your chicken baby.

The OP identified the two mushrooms as close as one could hope for without rigorous examination -- fungal taxonomy is in a stage of renaissance at the moment due to advances in molecular biology and the genus Amanita is a jumbled mess. I'm afraid muscaria is as close as you can hope for with this guy.

Fungi are ubiquitous and perform many vital functions in nature. As far as poisonous mushroom go, it is helpful to keep in mind that there are far more deadly poisonous plants than poisonous mushrooms. Also, the toxic compounds found in some mushrooms is, on a molecular level, large enough to not pose a risk of poisoning through merely touching or handling them -- eating them is a different story for humans and chickens alike apparently.

Quote:
When you pick a mushroom you are only picking the reproductive portion of the organism -- the fruitbody. The organism lives beneath the soil as a complex cellular network (known as mycelium). Picking a mushroom is not at all like pulling a weed.

In the case of Amanita -- and many other genera, these cellular networks are partnered with tree species in a mutualistic association that greatly benefits the trees, wherein the mushroom's mycelium bonds with the root tips and channels nutrients and moisture to the tree that would otherwise be unavailable. Oaks and pines are two families that take advantage of and depend on this. So I would be hesitant to use fungicides to deal with the mushrooms because you could inadvertently harm the trees the mushrooms are living with. For further reading on this check out the Mycorrhiza entry at Wikipedia.

Picking and discarding the poisonous mushrooms is probably the best approach to dealing with the issue, although I understand why you would be concerned, I would be a bit worried if A. bisporigera was growing in or around my chicken coop.

Even though A. bisporigera is one of the few deadly poisonous mushrooms, I still think they are beautiful, here is one I photographed a couple days ago -- but I'm a mycology nerd and beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess

 

[LesGan]

We have had so much rain lately that the dirt chicken yard is starting to grow mushrooms which I have been removing each day. Question: I am also getting patches of white spots and also of rust patches growing on the ground. I suspect that those patches are molds. Is there anything I can spread on the ground that will alter the pH or some such and will discourage the growth of these things? Don't know why lime comes to mind. Thanks for any feedback on the ground molds.

 

[pixiechic]

Wow, georgem, thank you for all the info! Now I know who to ask when I have mushroom questions.

Unfortunately, Peep's probably-poisoned sister Lucky is not doing so well - DH found her yesterday, lying on her side in the coop, looking dazed. We brought her inside and put her in a bin with food and water within close reach, and she sort of sat up and ate and drank like crazy. I'm encouraged by her apparent appetite, and hope that will help get everything out of her system. However, her legs are not working at all, so we're giving her baby vitamins because that seemed to help Peep. Will keep you posted on her progress.

 

[Nif]

georgem...your photo of the 'shroom is pretty amazing. Thanks for sharing your fungi knowledge!!