Suspected poisoning concern

[aef1000]

i was in my yard about to let my chickens out to forage and I came upon a strange acting squirrel. It was writhing around looking very uncomfortable and clearly not aware of my presence. It kept pushing its head along the ground in a small circle. I went in the house to get something to pick it up with and remove it from our yard. When I returned 5 minutes later it was clearly dead and appeared to have hemorrhaged as there was quite a bit of blood pooled around it’s head and body. It had no other visible injuries or trauma. Is this what happens when they’re poisoned??? I’m concerned about my chicken ingesting anything they may have found its way into our yard. I’m trying to clean up the mess. Any suggestions as to what to use to disinfect the area?
I’m afraid to let my hen out of their run now.

 

[sourland]

To me it sounds like poisoning. Have any of your neighbors been complaining about the squirrels ?

 

[cmom]

Since squirrels do travel, possibly it got into some rat poison somewhere.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Yeah, that's poisoning, and a particularly inhumane variant. However, the bait is probably set deliberately, meant for the squirrel and not your chickens. It's likely not in your area.

 

[Wezdin]

Rat poisoning will cause excessive internal bleeding, that is what i am thinking happened

 

[cmom]

I have some rat bait in my barn in rat bait boxes. My bait kept disappearing. Apparently after doing some research I found out the culprit is immune to rat poison.

 

[Ebony Rose]

The pool of blood, and possibly vomit too, strongly suggests poison, and most likely arsenic (rat) poisoning. If possible, I'd flip the dirt under, to a depth of about a foot, that the squirrel died on, just in case it vomited up some of whatever it ingested. As a prophylactic antidote for your chickens, I'd offer foods high in Vitamin K1... Foods such as kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, collard greens, beet greens, parsley, cabbage, natto, raw spinach, cooked broccoli, cooked brussel sprouts, beef liver (nice protein boost too). Best of luck and health to you and your flock.

 

[Fishkeeper]

If you think your chickens have eaten rat poison, they need a vet, not kale. Rat poison is an anticoagulant (that used to be used medicinally in small doses), and like any anticoagulant, an overdose is lethal because of the internal bleeding. Essentially, the blood leaks out of everywhere and into places it shouldn't be. Vitamins won't fix that.

 

[Ebony Rose]

If you think your chickens have eaten rat poison, they need a vet, not kale. Rat poison is an anticoagulant (that used to be used medicinally in small doses), and like any anticoagulant, an overdose is lethal because of the internal bleeding. Essentially, the blood leaks out of everywhere and into places it shouldn't be. Vitamins won't fix that.

OP said the SQUIRREL was poisoned, not his chickens. The squirrel likely found the poison elsewhere and dragged himself into the OP's yard. My concern would be that if the squirrel vomited, there might be trace chemicals in that area that might be missed when OP cleans the spot and/or flips the dirt there, and to offer foods high in a KNOWN cure (Vitamin K1, Vitamin D3) for exposure to those chemicals. OP doesn't suspect that his birds have come in contact with the poison, they are concerned that they might. I'd not recommend a vet to treat for rat poisoning of his flock because he doesn't know that they've been exposed. The treatment is a 30 day regimen that causes the blood to clot, if they've not been poisoned with rat poison, the cure could kill them. Hence, my suggestion to feed foods high in those vitamins to offer some safeguard, as the foods WON'T kill his flock.

 

[Fishkeeper]

I was referring to more of a hypothetical situation where someone else, looking for advice on what to do about their chickens having definitely eaten rat poison, might find this.