Sunflower seeds - a problem?

[iosRANDALL]

@aart @azygous @micstrachan @leighks @lazy gardener @peckpeckpeck @KikisGirls
We got back from Tractor Supply with the granite grit but no SafeGuard chicken wormer. They had dog and cat SafeGuard but no chicken. Go figure.
I first tried offering the grit to Lacy in a bowl. Not interested. So I took about a third to a half slice of brown bread, broke it into small pieces and pressed each piece down onto a shallow pile of the grit in the bowl embedding one side of each small piece of bread with the granite granules. She didn’t hesitate to eat it and gobbled it up (about a third to a half slice of grit-embedded bread). I didn’t want to overload her so that was all I offered.
About an hour later she was obviously feeling bad and I tried to offer her some barely warm chopped-up hard-boiled egg with a bit of olive oil stirred in. Not at all interested. A second warm chopped-up hard-boiled egg without olive oil was offered. Nope. Didn’t want it. And obviously lethargic and not feeling well. So I offered her a couple small bitesize pieces of bread again and she readily ate them. So that’s where we are now. Lethargic -standing quietly in a corner -not wanting to eat anything but bread. I guess I can try and spread some coconut oil on pieces of bread and see if she’ll eat that. Oh, and her poop is on the size of small to medium with SOME normal consistency to it (bulk) but also more liquidity than is normal.

 

[Kiki]

There is no such thing as chicken safeguard. I am so sorry...I should have been more specific. Most wormers are used off label for chickens.

How is her crop now? Does it smell at all?

 

[leighks]

@aart @azygous @micstrachan @leighks @lazy gardener @peckpeckpeck @KikisGirls
We got back from Tractor Supply with the granite grit but no SafeGuard chicken wormer. They had dog and cat SafeGuard but no chicken. Go figure.
I first tried offering the grit to Lacy in a bowl. Not interested. So I took about a third to a half slice of brown bread, broke it into small pieces and pressed each piece down onto a shallow pile of the grit in the bowl embedding one side of each small piece of bread with the granite granules. She didn’t hesitate to eat it and gobbled it up (about a third to a half slice of grit-embedded bread). I didn’t want to overload her so that was all I offered.
About an hour later she was obviously feeling bad and I tried to offer her some barely warm chopped-up hard-boiled egg with a bit of olive oil stirred in. Not at all interested. A second warm chopped-up hard-boiled egg without olive oil was offered. Nope. Didn’t want it. And obviously lethargic and not feeling well. So I offered her a couple small bitesize pieces of bread again and she readily ate them. So that’s where we are now. Lethargic -standing quietly in a corner -not wanting to eat anything but bread. I guess I can try and spread some coconut oil on pieces of bread and see if she’ll eat that. Oh, and her poop is on the size of small to medium with SOME normal consistency to it (bulk) but also more liquidity than is normal.

Sorry she’s still not feeling well! I haven’t had this problem before, so I’m sure others who know better hopefully can get back to you soon.

Don’t know if this would be helpful at all, but my chickens love when I take their regular food crumbles and add a little water to make it have an oatmeal like consistency- especially when it’s hot and I want to make sure they are getting enough hydration. Maybe try that and have the grit available too?? Possibly a little coconut oil mixed in as well?

 

[centrarchid]

Consider dipping bread in a raw egg / oil mixture. Option of last resort for me is live mealworms.

 

[Kiki]

I'm really wondering f this has nothing to do with the seeds. Do you know if the previous owner ever wormed them?

ETA. Looks like you have had them for a year already. I miss read the date and thought you only just got the birds last month....do you know how old they were when you bought them?

 

[iosRANDALL]

Get the correct grit. Poultry Grit, not Chick Grit. Here's a Picture of Poultry Grit.View attachment 1291825 . GC

@GC-Raptor
Unfortunately for Lacy I didn’t catch this post of yours until after our 60 mile round trip to Tractor Supply. My wife went and got the grit while I went for the two 50# bags of chicken feed. She picked out the “chick” grit. I just checked. That’s what we bought :-(

 

[Peppercorngal]

@lazy gardener i have a couple questions along this line. I sprout BOSS and wheat berries for my 8 Silkie they get about a cup to a cup and a half is this too much daily? Also tonight I noticed one of my 3 week old chicks running around with a sprouted BOSS, not sure if mama gave it to her or if she stole it. Should I stop giving sprouts until the chicks are larger?

I don't really know what BOSS is, but if it's a grass of some sort it won't hurt a 3 week old chick. It won't hurt a 3 day old chick! It's natural for baby chicks to roam with their Mom's and peck at all sorts of natural things from day one. Grass, bugs, etc. It's actually good for them!

 

[Peppercorngal]

FOOD FOR THOUGHT -NOT THE GUT...
I’ve no science to go on here -just some thoughts and deducing. Just something to consider maybe...
My wife is in the habit of throwing handfuls of unshelled sunflower seeds to the chickens in their coops when she is reloading the wildbird feeders. As I thought about it, I said to her that I wondered if there might be a potential problem with that. Her response was what I suppose most folks conclude when they feed their chickens sunflower seeds: “Wildbirds eat them all the time and a chicken is a bird. Therefore sunflower seeds should be as good for a chicken as it is for a Cardinal.”
But in coming to that conclusion what I think most folks don’t consider is the fact that wildbirds shell the sunflower seed first and DISCARD the non-nutritious fibrous indigestible shell. Wildbirds do NOT eat the shell of the sunflower seed. They crack it open, eat the seed, and drop the shell which lands in the discard pile below the feeder. Have you ever had a soggy-wet fibrous mass of indigestible chewed-up sunflower shells in your mouth? If so, you get the picture. My concern was that too much shell in the chicken’s crop(craw) or anywhere in the gut could cause problems with impaction or blockage if a mass of wet fibrous nondigestible shell collects there. We have a Silver-Laced Wyandotte hen that for the past 2 1/2 days has some type of mass or impaction in her crop that is very painful to her when it’s touched. And she is lethargic, obviously not feeling well and eating only little. I don’t know if it’s a mass of sunflower shells, an impaction of straw, a tumor, or what, but my wife had thrown a bunch of unshelled sunflower seeds into her coop the evening before she turned up feeling bad and she ate a bunch of them. It was the next morning that we found her obviously not feeling well and it was this afternoon (3rd day of feeing bad) when I discovered the lump in her crop that very obviously pains her when touched. I can hold her, pet her, touch her all over, but when I touch her crop, she starts a non-normal cackling and making a real effort to get away. It’s obviously painful and is the source of her illness.
Again, I don’t know what’s in her crop so can’t for-sure pin it on the sunflower shells, but I’ve worried for a long time about the potential for problems with the shells knowing that the wildbirds purposely discard them -and knowing from personal experience what a mass of soggy-wet fibrous sunflower shells feel like in my mouth after I’ve chewed on a handful of them for quite a while before I finally have to spit the fibrous wad out!
Just some food for thought (pun intended).

Oh, you are funny! Sunflower seeds are actually good for chickens. The shell is not a problem at all. If your Wyandotte is having a problem it could be from another issue. Maybe she doesn't get grit that she needs. ?? Good luck, I hope she's ok.

 

[Peppercorngal]

@GC-Raptor
Unfortunately for Lacy I didn’t catch this post of yours until after our 60 mile round trip to Tractor Supply. My wife went and got the grit while I went for the two 50# bags of chicken feed. She picked out the “chick” grit. I just checked. That’s what we bought :-(

Chick grit is just smaller, it will still work, put it in their food and they can't help but to ingest some. It will help.

 

[iosRANDALL]

I'm really wondering f this has nothing to do with the seeds. Do you know if the previous owner ever wormed them?

ETA. Looks like you have had them for a year already. I miss read the date and thought you only just got the birds last month....do you know how old they were when you bought them?

The adult Jersey Giants were our first -a year ago. Followed a month or so later by a few Agri Co-op 5-day-old chicks, which included Lacy. Then a couple of months later the guy we got the Jersey Giants from provided us with a family of Black Copper Marans (mom -dad -and seven 1-week old chicks).
When we got the Jersey Giants a year ago, Harry told us that he had recently wormed them.