Symptoms for chicken eating food with fungi?

[SportTees]

I threw out some old chick food that had gotten wet. I didn't think the chickens could get to it but now one hen is acting very funny. She is just standing in the cage kinda wining. I picked her up and she has yellow gunk on her beak. I waited a few hours and she started looking better and went to roost. Could this be poisoning from the bad food?

 

[threehorses]

It's highly possible, yes. Do you think she got to it?

If you do, just give her a gentle cleansing mash first thing tomorrow and take precautions the following week. Mash ingredients are below.

I wouldn't wait for symptoms. But definitely if you see the following she's gotten into soured feed:

diarrhea
ataxia (walking like drunk)
neurological signs: weak wing, limping, weak neck
vomiting (sometimes)


To help her, as soon as you can I'd offer her the following mash.

The goodies:
1 teaspoon of yogurt (replaces good bacteria)
1/2 teaspoon of baby food applesauce (cleanses the gut)
1/8th teaspoon of molasses (flushes toxins)

The base (which ever you think she's more likely to eat - I put them in most-likely order):

The yolk of a boiled egg, mashed.
Cooked oatmeal.
Crumbles moistened with water.

Mix The Goodies in with the base til damp, not wet (unless she likes wet). Take her feed up 30 minutes before - then give her this. She'll be more likely to eat it.

If you see any symptoms, you m ight want to do a stronger flush; update THIS thread as you'll have subscribers (including me) looking for updates.

Otherwise, just watch her. let us know how she does, please. Also if the feed was in your bin, replace all the feed. Before you put the new feed in, white the bin's interior with white vinegar. Let dry. Then replace the feed. That kills spores to prevent risk of mildew/fungi/aflatoxins.

I hope she's well!

 

[SportTees]

Today she is walking around slowly but she has one eye almost shut and the other open. I'm going to head to the store to pick the items you recommended to give her

 

[threehorses]

Also watch her for respiratory illness. She might have had some nasal discharge, which turns yellow as it dries in the air. So you might want to pick up a thing of antibiotics. The vitamins will still work with that treatment - might just have to be adjusted slightly.

 

[SportTees]

Quote:
IS respiratory illness common with eating moldy food?

 

[threehorses]

No but we haven't ruled out respiratory illness yet, and a shut eye is very common with it. And the way you phrased about the bad food I wasn't sure if you knew she got into some or not? So I didn't want to pin you to one thing inaccurately and lose a chance to treat the actual illness if it were something else.

Did you try the flush last night? did she take it? How is she today? Today is the day where vitamin supplementation will take place - which supports both options. Also keep her eating. I'll wait for your reply.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I had read that moldy food could cause sour crop. Maybe give her some water with apple cider vinegar (in a NON-metal bowl). ACV helps neutralize acids as well, so if it caused something else, it may help treat that as well.

The nasal discharge/respiratory thing sounds possible as well.

 

[threehorses]

Incidentally, respiratory illness IS common with being exposed to mildews or fungi, which can happen quickly with wet food in the summer. (I was in a hurry and didn't get to type that before).

Now you'll want to give her at least vitamins and minerals in the water daily or organic apple cider vinegar in the water (1 teaspoon per gallon of water) and polyvisol baby vitamins (non-iron formula, vitamin section not baby section of walmart, cvs, etc) 3 drops a day in the beak for a week. The oil vitamins in the vitamin supplement will counteract any oil-vitamin depletion that might happen if there were mycotoxins (mildew/fungi poisons) in the feed, but will also boost the immune system and particularly the respiratory system (vitamin A) if there's a respiratory problem. Heals two birds with one proverbial stone.. Also a vitamin E capsule, slit and the oil from it given into the beak daily will help with any paralysis, but also is an anti-oxidant helping to heal. 400 to 700 IU of vitamin E oil capsules work great.

Keep up the yogurt daily as it provides good bacteria that act against fungi, but also provides health to the bird's digestive tract in case of any respiratory or ocular drainage. The egg is good for increased protein. The applesauce and molasses won't be necessary anymore but keep in hand any time you have possible toxin ingestion issues.

 

[SportTees]

O.K. I forced her to eat a few beak fulls of the yogurt mixture. GAve her a double dose of vitamins in her water and gave her Aeormicin crumbles. That was the only antibiotic they had that looked like her normal food. She won't eat new things. She has opened both eyes and is walking around now. So she is better but still not 100%.

I'am going to keep offering her yogurt but she really doesn't show any interest in it.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Well the problem is that now that you've given yogurt and aureomycin the antibiotic won't work and neither will the yogurt.

Personally because she's improving without the antibiotic, I wouldn't use it. please don't - because once you start you have to do it for 14 days and antibiotics will cause MORE fungal problems in a bird. And diarrhea. And superbugs if there wasn't a bacterial infection there to treat. Best to wait to make sure that you see strong and sure respiratory symptoms first. So please remove the Aureomycin (especialy because that's a really really nice drug that you do NOT want to lose the use of by using at the wrong time.)

Also if you're using a poultry vitamin/mineral supplement it's important not to double the dosage. You can easily overdose with minerals that way. Perhaps the one time has boosted her immune system, but from now on only use it as directed please. And do continue the yogurt. Try mixing it in something you can 'hide' it in. Cooked oatmeal, mix with boiled egg yolk, etc. Using the yogurt and vitamins for a week will be very important.

So - no Aureomycin please yet, do continue yogurt (or acidophilis capsule contents, or Probios probiotics for livestock), do continue packaged vitamins at a regular dose for no less than a week.

I'm glad she's better - I think the non-medicinal things you used are working. If she worsens and her eyes close and she sniffles, THEN take all vitamins out of the water and use Aureomycin, and then you will have to feed her vitamins - you can't mix them. It causes the Aureomycin not to work.