Sick chicken, drooling?

[mockingbird girl]

I live up in NY.. not exactly hot up here, not like down there that's for sure!

Tiny toads.. hmmm.. are they toxic if dogs eat them or is it just that it makes dogs drool? kinda like your chicken does? I dunno. x_x

I'm sorry I don't have any answers for either of us, this is beyond frustrating!!!!!!!!!!

-Cat

 

[ivoryhoof farm]

We have toads that the dogs go after that when they get them their mouths they get high and drool and real sick. It can kill a dog. So I think it could happen with a chicken. Although I thought chickens were pretty ammune. They love to eat our scorpions, roaches & beetles.

Mockingbird girl: I wish I knew what is ailing your chickens, we are so new to this.

Just checked on Apollo, He might be doing better, It is nighttime, we put him in a dog kennel away from the flock. but he seems quieter. My daughter and I made a solution of water and molasses
syringed it in his mouth he struggled swallowing it but did take it. Pardon the lack of terms.

 

[chickenlady]

just make sure the syringe is far enough into his mouth so water does not go down the wrong pipe, into his lungs. Even if he did not eat something toxic, this flush will not hurt him. This sounds like it came on real quick. I am going to bed now, best of luck till morning

 

[dlhunicorn]

sounds as though indeed he may have gotten one of those toads (perhaps a part of one left by the dog? Have a look around your property also for any sources of stagnant water as botulism can be in there and this also causes drooling and the symptoms you are describing.)
here is more info on on a crop tube...(be VERY careful as if you have never done it before it is easy to choose the wrong tube >a bird has two: one leading to the crop and one leading to the lungs)....
Do not try and make him eat tho giving fluids to prevent dehydration is of the utmost importance... keep dribbling water along the beak and see if he can swallow (on his OWN>>>you do not want to go squirting a bunch of water in the beak and having it get into the lungs!)
If you possibly can, go to the drugstore, walmart or agway or such and see if you can get a combo vitE/selenium (make SURE the amount of selenium does not exceed 50 MICROgrams)... p r i c k open with a pin or needle and squeeze out the contents and give into beak (again just enuf so he can swallow it on own) as this has been shown to help with many toxicity issues. Do not give more than one tab a day for no more than three days...
Here is info (several articles please review them all incl the step-by-step tutorial) on the croptube to get the molasses flush into the crop when the bird is unable to swallow on own:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1175591788

 

[chickenlady]

Just checking on Apollo. How is is doing this morning? I thought about the poor thing all night. I'm praying he is doing better. If it is really hot there, keeping him hydrated will be very important.

 

[ivoryhoof farm]

Our Apollo made it through the night! We were worried sick about him. I have him in a run by himself today yet his fellow chickens can visit him through the fence. We did the molassis flush. i think he liked it! we got it in his mouth and swallowed it on his own. He is still a little weak but eating and drinking. Our yard is very shaded but it still is hot as ever!
This is our first sick chicken, usually we loose them due to coyotes and hawks.

another thing is the dirty water- we have an irrigation ditch that has some water in, the chickens love to eat the tadpoles out of there and the other bugs but this weekend after our heavy rain I was cleaning out my horse stalls and some of the gross water from the stalls ran in there and after a day of heat the water got real bad. This morning I realized that the chickens might go in there so I drained it best I could and covered it with a tarp. Maybe he drank some of that water? I find it hard to believe because they haven't been over there I think they smelled the gross smell before I did.

I really appreciate all the help with out sweet Roo, many thanks!

 

[chickenlady]

I'm glad to hear Apollo is doing a little better. He should only drink the molassis water for not more than 8 hours. Has he pooped at all for you yet? How does it look. Is he up and walking around yet? How about the drooling, does that seem to have gone away? What kind of food do you feed him?
That irrigation ditch doesnt sound too good, lol. Good thing you discovered that.

 

[Andora]

I'm glad he made it through the night! We've had some sick birds too, with funny wings and then a lot of mucus from the nose and mouth, kind of drooling. Some others had bloody diarrhea.

What toxic things could a chicken eat besides toads? We live in Kentucky, and we don't use any chemicals on our yard at all aside from a few squirts of weed killer on some poison ivy about three weeks before I got chickens. Is there a list of toxic chicken plants out there somewhere? Would a chicken be smart enough to not eat toxic plants??

 

[chickenlady]

There was a post on here at one time that listed toxic plants, try doing a search for it or start a new thread about it. I'm sure there is quite a list. I would imagine that chickens would stay away from most but would at some point eat the bad ones. Some chickens eat almost anything, lol.

There are some mushrooms out there that are poisonous, you need to watch moldy feed, bad water, if you free range them, watch for dead carcasses of animals. I'm sure there are plenty of things out there that can be toxic or they can get botulism from. I hope you chickens are doing better as well.

 

[Andora]

I'll search for a list tonight once my toddler sleeps. I should have done this before I got chickens and then scouted my yard for bad plants! We actually have some mushrooms in our yard, but the sick birds weren't near them and the two hens that free range haven't seemed interested in them.