wild mushrooms deadly?

[killions123]

my husband let our chickens out to roam and found one under our pine tree's near wild mushrooms. he immediately picked up the hen and moved her to a new location and picked the mushrooms. the hen is now lathargic and not moving around. her head moves from side to side and she is so not herself. i looked for info on chickens eating wild mushrooms but haven't had any luck. does anyone have any suggestions? thank you!

 

[andrea98]

were they mushrooms or taodstools? i think toad stools are bad but no clue as far as wild mushrooms or what kind grow a this time of year..

 

[killions123]

there were mostly toadstools but also a few red/orange mushrooms.
what have you seen happen if they eat toadstools?

 

[rachaelc]

We took a careful look around the pen, and noticed nothing unusual…except for several different types of mushrooms growing. ...
www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2876126
I was just reading about these folks experience the other day..thought it might be helpful to read yourself, plus good pics
Good luck
RachaelC mother of all

 

[killions123]

thank you very much! this one didn't come up when I did a search.

 

[Crickett]

As a rule of thumb, if a mushroom is brightly colored, ie. red, yellow, orange, etc. it is deadly poison. Hopefully your hen did not eat any. Not trying to be pessimistic here, just trying to give you infromation.

 

[al6517]

There many many types of wild mushrooms some good some not so much. You have to do your homework on these little buggars they can be tough to ID, point is you can't afford to make a mistake so please read up well on the subject.

AL

 

[aussieheelr]

Mmmm mushrooms. But good rule of thumb with the color Crickett!
My DH has a book about eating wild mushrooms and it is every bit of 300 pages with pictures of stages of growth, regions to locate etc.
Might be a good idea if you tend to have mushrooms around your house.

 

[willkatdawson]

How's she doing this morning, I hope it was only temporary.

 

[Nif]

Actually "little brown mushrooms" are what my mushroom book says to avoid. Most of the deadly mushrooms have a slimy or wet appearance.
If your chicken is having those symptoms after eating the shrooms it would probably be a good idea to do threehorses flush. If you search for "molasses flush" you should find it. I know she just posted info for someone about this recipe and I will find it for you...it was very lengthy and informative.

Here it is! (this is written by threehorses)

If she were mine, I'd do this (even if you've done any of this before):

A one-time treatment of a medium-strength flush mash. Simultaneous probiotic treatment, etc.
Continued probiotic, anti-yeast, and vitamin therapy and overall immune stimulation for two weeks.
A good look at her physical condition with 'tweaking' of the diet to encourage increased growth/plumage.


The mash:

1/8th teaspoon of molasses.
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of very very hot water.

Mix the above three ingredients. To them, add:
1 teaspoon of yogurt (plain, or "Activia" - best choice)
1 teaspoon of applesauce
4 drops of polyvisol vitamins (if you have them)
a pinch of turmeric spice (if you have it - if not, consider getting some from the grocery store).
crumbles (or pellets made into crumbles in the blender) - enough to where initially the mash is like a not-very-moist applesauce.

Stir well and allow to sit for a few minutes til it's semi-moist but not too goopy as most birds dislike that.

Fast her overnight and feed this as her first meal of the day. Use 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 heaping tablespoon of molasses to 1/2 gallon of water as her sole drinking water for four hours.

After the four hours, replace her water with normal. After the mash, allow her to have her regular mash.

The mollasses flushes out the system as I had outlined above. The applesauce's pectin cleanses the digestive system and acts as a "prebiotic" to the live bacteria probiotics - it feeds them, encourages them to colonize. The honey is for taste with slight antibacterial benefits, very slight. The vitamins are to replace any diminished oil-vitamins which are commonly deficient in birds with long time mycotoxin or fungal exposure, or yeast infections. They will also boost immunity, the E acting as help against E. coli as well as neurological boosting. The A increases mucous membrane health, including that of the lining of the digestive tract.

The turmeric has some good anti-inflammatory properties. This hen definitely has an inflamed digestive tract evidenced by the mucus in her droppings. Inflamed digestive tracts are unable to absorb normal nutrients, likely resulting in her poor state and feathering and general lethargy.

The yogurt, of course, will replace good bacteria (Lactobacilli in most brands, both lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in the Activia brand) which are active against yeast that has turned into its pathogenic fungal state. It also of course acts against digestive tract inflammation and pathogenic bacteria through the actions of crowding, enzymes, etc.

After the first day, I'd use that flush mash (without the water treatment) twice weekly for two weeks as long as her droppings remain smelly or for two weeks and then reevaluate, whichever comes first. For water, I would use 1 tablespoon of organic (not regular filtered) apple cider vinegar in her water as her only water. All of your flock can have this, though for a week I would keep her up as she's likely sloughing off bad bacteria in her droppings, which can be infective to other birds.

The pH of the OACV will continuously combat pathogenic fungi and fungal spores, and make an unfriendly environment for pathogenic bacteria (who like a more basic pH). The bit of living bacteria in the unfiltered OACV will compliment the probiotics of the yogurt. It will also keep the water free of biofilm.

I would use a modified mash daily for the two weeks - one containing yogurt and vitamins daily. Make a tiny amount containing 1 teaspoon of yogurt (or the contents of one acidophilis capsule/tablet), a tiny bit of honey, and 5 drops of polyvisol vitamins without iron.

The polyvisol provides the oil vitamins that might be depleted in a good spectrum as well as vitamin B for appetite and vigor. The reason for an oil form is that water forms of vitamins allow the light-sensitive vitamins to degrade easily and honestly I feel that the vitamin package encourages biofilm in the waterers while losing effectiveness (for the vital oil vitamins) quickly. The slight amount of polyvisol is within safe ranges for the more-easily overdosed oil vitamins without being excessive. After two weeks, you will need to taper off - but we'll reevaluate before then if you choose this treatment program.

If she shows any neck issues, I would indeed give the contents of one 400IU vitamin E oil capsule daily on a piece of bread. It doesn't have to be the whole thing but the polyvisol's vitamin E amount isn't enough to really be truly therapeutic. In all honestly, natural Vitamin E is the way to go (and you'd use less) but synthetic vitamin E will certainly help if there is neurological repathing to do to repair any neuro issues. If you like, you can do this as little as three times a week.

This program is designed as an over-all immune building and fungi/pathogenic-bacteria fighting treatment as we don't know the true cause of this illness. Again the stench and mucous quality of the droppings (while not being acute as in coccidiosis) indicate bacterial involvement at the least.​