The Ladies may have gotten into undiluted Roundup

[Noelygfan]

Help please!!

I'm not sure what to do. I had a small amount of undiluted Roundup I had used a few years ago to kill Buckthorn safely (so I thought) stored in our garage/barn. Some time in the last two days the ladies seem to have knocked it over. Almost no liquid was on the ground. There was a little bit stuck to the bottom of the glass jar it was in. (I put coloring in it so I could see it on the stumps I painted with it).

It is possible raccoons knocked it over (one of my hens was laying an egg there today, which is how I noticed it). I threw out today's eggs

What signs should I look for in the ladies if they drank it? How couls they have removed the cap and not broken the bottle? When (if ever) would eggs be safe to eat?

 

[Spartan22]

No clue, try googling glysophate the active ingredients of roundup. Ive encountered some women in our town last year actively trying to boycott Monsanto (Scotts Co.)the maker of Roundup. They claimed it causes birth defects if pregnant women were exposed to it thru cows milk and vegetable exposure particularly corn crops. I would love to know too, Hope you chickens are alright.

 

[Noelygfan]

I read it could cause infertility in poultry. IF they drank it, and that's the worst that happens, they can just live out their lives without layingeggs. I inspected the area closer. There was such a lack of liquid, or trace of much of it, even in the bottle, it was like it was licked clean. Also, some other things were knocked down.
I am starting to suspect raccoons. They have been attempting to break into the barn cats' food container for the last few days. It is highly possible they took off the (now missing) cap and drank most of it. The ladies still may have been exposed to a little. Ugh...I wish there was a better wa6 to kill Buckthorn. It's the ONLY reason I even had the stuff!

 

[Spartan22]

Was it the one that has rain proof for 24 hours? If it doesn't say that, it will be easy to flush away from their system by giving them plenty of water. Yeah buckthorn are hard to kill, I use them too specially for poison ivy under my trees.

 

[Noelygfan]

It was just the regular, no frills kind. They have lots of access to fresh water, so that's a relief! Thank you! I can't imagine the liquid just evaporated. I think I may have to get rid of tomorrow's eggs as well to be on the safe side. All of this makes me sad. I'm also going to keep a close eye on how the ladies are over the next few days. Most of them don't even go into that part of the building, but a couple sneak in there to lay eggs away from the nesting boxes every-so-often.

 

[Spartan22]

Might be a good idea, since might take couple of days before the chem flush out of their system,
Did you noticed how many of them got in there? you might keep an eye on them for a few
make sure they're ok.

 

[One Chick Two]

If your hens do lay eggs, I would not attempt eating them for awhile, and would never sell eggs from this hens- just in case.

 

[Noelygfan]

Those are my thoughts as well. It was the two hens at the bottom of the pile that may have gotten into it. I know which ones they are. They don't lay often because the stronger hens force them away from food as it is. Also, after some reading, I found that since the stuff has been sitting outside for two winters and three summers, that most of the active ingredient was already gone. I'm still going to play isafe.

 

[smeeton48]

Hi I am from Australia and have just joined your site.
I have had two of my beautiful hens die from eating grass along my fenceline which a neighbour sprayed with strong roundup. The hens started to have the runs and were showing signs of not being very well. Kept eating and drinking to the end but deteriorated very fast and lasted about 2 weeks before I found them dead in their house when I went to let them out this morning. Such a shame as they were very tame and gentle creatures.

The grey and black died the Light sussex is ok

 

[Spartan22]

Hi I am from Australia and have just joined your site.
I have had two of my beautiful hens die from eating grass along my fenceline which a neighbour sprayed with strong roundup. The hens started to have the runs and were showing signs of not being very well. Kept eating and drinking to the end but deteriorated very fast and lasted about 2 weeks before I found them dead in their house when I went to let them out this morning. Such a shame as they were very tame and gentle creatures.

The grey and black died the Light sussex is ok

Welcome to BYC! Sorry to hear about your chicken

, sometimes they just can't recover from those chemicals. Is there a way you can contain them to keep them away from the neighbors fence line? otherwise your other birds or future birds might get same contamination.