Young pullet died, found a bunch of seeds in gizzard what are they?

[dough13]

Hello I was tending to a sick listless pullet from my flock (4 months old) for the past few days that roam freely around the house and in the woods some days. The chick was not eating but was drinking a bit the crop was not swollen or have any signs of being impacted., green bile poop (likely due to not eating) no noticeable parasites either. The other 7 pullets seem healthy.

I had been giving the chick some antibiotic vitamin water for about 2 of those days with no improvement. Anyways this morning i found the chicken dead and i did a necropsy that focused on the gizzard (I was assuming it ate a piece of plastic that I found in the coop but when I opened the Gizzard i found a bunch of seeds approx the size of popcorn seeds .

The chicken was in quarantine for about 3 days and never came out of the pen for another couple days so i would assume the seeds were in there at least 4 days and never made it through the chickens gizzard for some reason.. I was suprised that this size seed would not go through the chicken and have read about people feeding there chicks popcorn kernels which are about the same size. the only other thing i can think of was that these seeds may have been poison to the chick. Any input would be helpful. I will attach a pic of the seeds that were in the crop and in the pic it is approx. half of the seeds that were in the crop.

 

[junebuggena]

So there wasn't any grit (small pebbles) in the gizzard? Just these seeds? They look like very small cherry pits or dried peas maybe.

 

[dough13]

There was no other grit in the gizzard but they have access to plenty of grit. it was just the seeds in there. I do not think there are any cherry trees or peas around here. but i can have a look and see if i can find any of the seeds close by. From my research these seeds should have passed through the system if they were the size of popcorn kernels do you agree?

 

[junebuggena]

They would have passed if she had grit in the gizzard as well. Grit is needed to break down things like those seeds and corn. If a bird won't consume grit, then there really isn't anything that can be done to avoid an impacted crop.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

To be exact they look like dried pees. I use snow peas that are dried when i plant and those look just like them. And if thats what it is she should not have consumed them from my understanding dried bean/peas are dangerous for them.

 

[dough13]

To be exact they look like dried pees. I use snow peas that are dried when i plant and those look just like them. And if thats what it is she should not have consumed them from my understanding dried bean/peas are dangerous for them

I am not sure they are peas unless they are wild ones but i haven't noticed anything like that around the house. I am thinking that they should have been able to get through the system as they dont seem too large but maybe because there was so many of them it blocked the gizzard from emptying.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Well i know the kind i use are hard as rocks so not sure on that, but you might have a wild plant that a
Has the same kind of seeds.

 

[dough13]

From my reading popcorn kernels are ok to feed chickens these seeds are no bigger than popcorn kernels thats why I was wondering if the seed may be poison or it just ate too many at once and it blocked the gizzard. the seeds must have caused death otherwise they would have been pooped out within the last few days?

 

[dough13]

The seeds are very hard as well like a popcorn kernel.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

I would think so, i almost wonder if she thought those would work as grit since they kind of look like pebbles and are hard. The shape might have had her confused and i did not know that popcorn kernels were safe. I know some seeds are and others not but you also get lots of different opinions when researching food safety for hens. If she had no other problems and was eating and drink and acting normal thats the only thing i can think of.