WARNING ~ Apple seeds are poisonous!

[donrae]

Sorry about your loss, but I don't think it was the seed that did it. Lots of chickens have eaten lots of apple seeds, as have numerous other animals, with no ill effects. Sometimes apparently healthy birds just die.

 

[pips&peeps]

My geese eat tons of apples off my trees every year. None of them have had any problems and with the amount they eat, I keep an eye on them.

I think this is just an unfortunate incident.

 

[Beekissed]

Sounds like it might have been purely coincidental? My birds free ranged a 15 tree apple orchard for the past 5 years now, consuming apples in very large amounts each year and no fatalities to date.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

I just gave my girls two apple cores this afternoon and they're all healthy and fine.

I had a chicken healthy in the morning that I found dead in the afternoon - I wondered about poisoning also, but in retrospect, my best guess as to what happened to her was what they call egg yolk stroke. Had that hen had any laying issues in recent days?

Very sorry for your loss.

 

[ChezPoulez]

Thanks all for the kind words. I wish I knew what happened, but the budget does not allow for autopsies.

 

[ChezPoulez]

Quote:
Nope, in fact she was only 5 months old and hadn't started to lay yet. She was a very pretty little partridge Silkie.

 

[evagay]

we also have given our chickens apples many times with no ill effects.. I am so sorry for your loss. Please do not blame yourself. I think maybe there must have been another reason you lost your feathered friend

 

[Chullicken]

I feed my small flock of seven chickens apples a lot, really more so in the fall when the grass and dandelion's wilt up. I've never had an issue, so far that is. The small amount of cyanide in apple seeds is so minute, you'd have to feed them seeds for a year and possibly the slow build up would be fatally toxic. I believe its one of those things like chocolate and dogs. You have to feed a dog an excessive amount to have an effect. Very, very sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how hard it is and shocking, but I don't believe it was caused by seeds.

 

[cakalama]

I'm glad I found this link. My son is having a hard time managing the idea that his is dying. I have been thinking it was the apples I have been giving them. We have had alot pass away this week. Two hens, three chicks and our huge white rooster. I'm not sure what is going on?

 

[DobieLover]

I'm glad I found this link. My son is having a hard time managing the idea that his is dying. I have been thinking it was the apples I have been giving them. We have had alot pass away this week. Two hens, three chicks and our huge white rooster. I'm not sure what is going on?

It's not the apples. I've done the calculations on how many seeds it would take to kill a chicken and it's a lot. It's a lot to even make them feel sick. I still remove the seeds because I don't want them to eat something with cyanide in it.
I suggest you start a new thread in the ER forum describing what the symptoms were of the birds you've lost, what you are feeding the flock, how they are housed, how many you have and if any others are showing symptoms.