Today I found my chicken laying in direct sunlight and shaking/unable to stand

[chikensandhen]

I do have olive oil but I'm not sure if I should wake them up or just wait for tomorrow? I'm thinking I'll let them rest they definitely need it unless you guys suggest otherwise then I'll do it now. But I'm hoping they wake up much better tomorrow. I do not have any good droppers just eye drops that I cleaned up, they got a bit of gatorade down before they went to sleep so that's good at least.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm reminded of any time I'm in the hospital. The nurses wake you up all night long, over and over, for whatever is needed - right? Turn off the light when done, and they'll likely go back to sleep almost immediately. I don't know, really.... just hoping for the best and saying what I might do if I were in the same situation. Good luck.

 

[chikensandhen]

That is a good point I will do that now.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

The symptoms are those of a neuro toxin. Sources of these toxins are in petroleum distillates (insecticides, hydraulic fluid and motor oil, kerosene, paint thinner), botulism infected beetles, moldy feed. Rodenticides can cause this. A poisonous spider bite, snake bite, some caterpillars.

Acivated charcoal might help if it isn't too late, but nothing helps in cases of petroleum distillates. Look for machinery leaking fluids onto the ground.

I am so alarmed right now. My husband loves rescuing old decrepit tractors. These and other various farm equipment spring hydraulic leaks all the time, and all over the place - often in close proximity to the run. Empty buckets, still with a coating of fluid, are in a pile by the barn or at the water hydrant at the chicken run. The gravel in front of the barn and a patch of dying grass near the run are covered in fluid. I've seen our chickens foraging in all of these places when I let them out. Since I haven't had any birds with these symptoms, I can only assume they're extremely lucky. I will clean up the buckets, but there's nothing I can do for the gravel and other oily areas. In addition to our resident fox, just another good reason to keep them penned up and never free-range again.

 

[azygous]

I am so alarmed right now. My husband loves rescuing old decrepit tractors. These and other various farm equipment spring hydraulic leaks all the time, and all over the place - often in close proximity to the run. Empty buckets, still with a coating of fluid, are in a pile by the barn or at the water hydrant at the chicken run. The gravel in front of the barn and a patch of dying grass near the run are covered in fluid. I've seen our chickens foraging in all of these places when I let them out. Since I haven't had any birds with these symptoms, I can only assume they're extremely lucky. I will clean up the buckets, but there's nothing I can do for the gravel and other oily areas. In addition to our resident fox, just another good reason to keep them penned up and never free-range again.

What happens is the gravel chickens need for their gizzards get coated with the toxic oils and they consume this gravel. The only solution is to keep the chickens out of these contaminated areas. When I discovered my log splitter was the source of poisoning my chickens, I hauled it far away to another part of my property that the chickens couldn't reach. Then I removed all of the oily soil and gravel, making sure I got every bit. As aware as I believed I was, I still completely missed this danger until it had killed a tiny chick and crippled a few other chickens.

 

[Aunt Angus]

We had a similar scare when we first moved onto our property. The chickens were out and about. A group of them had congregated in one spot near the workshop and were eating from a patch of grass that was growing there. After I put them away for the night, my hubby realized there was an old car battery in the shop that was leaking. The previous owners had left 3 car batteries under a cabinet un the shop. It had leaked through a hole in the shop wall and was on the ground right where the chickens were digging around. Luckily, they suffered no poisoning. We also found SO MANY screws and nails and tiny pieces of hardware all over the place. We picked up what we could with a big magnet, but we are still finding them everywhere.

I had always kind of thought the chickens would avoid anything like that, but I realized that they don't always. Obviously, we cleaned up the best we could, but who knows how long the battery had been leaking? There's no way we could have known. So now we have a temporary fence we move around to keep them contained while they forage.

I know you feel terrible about it, but it was an accident. Give yourself a break. We ALL have made mistakes with our chickens.

 

[chikensandhen]

Hi all, I have no updates atm my chickens are neither better nor worse they are in the same shape, I am starting to lose hope at least for the paralized one. If the worst were to come I will be looking into getting a necropsy because I really want to know for sure what it is and I want to make sure this doesn't happen to any more of my babies.

This is a first for me, I've had chickens pass away but it's always just one day to the next I find them in the morning already gone, but never like this. Take care everyone, hope everyone is doing good.

 

[chikensandhen]

I forgot to mention that they did have a dropping in the morning, it was a white liquid. I'm not sure if that means anything but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Every time I get a notification for thos thread, I open it hoping to read that they've recovered. Still hoping that will happen. I'm so sorry...

 

[chikensandhen]

Thank you so much for the support. I am happy to report that blondie seems to have regained her appetite, if only a little, she had a bit of fresh corn, her favorite. Also she had a bit of liquid all on her own. Pasta seems to be enjoying the olive oil now or at least she is not fighting me, maybe she realizes it's helping her.

There's hope for my girls, fingers crossed.