Chickens Dying Suddenly

[ratattack 111]

I was called by a mate who has had a few chickens die suddenly. There are the inevitable rats. He had put rat poison down but not enough to kill the 5 hens, ld50 is 1000g pkg of bodyweight, 5 Big hens have died in 2 days with no outward signs of poisoning. Lots of blood on the perches but not obvious on the dead birds, no obvious signs of injury. They are rural. Any suggestions?

[Lenmcharristar 9,203]

theyre dieing for a shit

[BIGLURKS 874]

Scared too death ?

[Chid 6,379]

Old age

[BGD 6,385]

Definitely bummed to death

[ratattack 111]

Biglurks that was my thought on it, there's 3 cockerels still alive but the hens are dead. Could've been shagged to death I guess but unlikely and the hens were only a year old?

[neil82 1,019]

a lot of rat poisons are anti-coagulants, ie stop blood clotting when an injury occurs, birds have relatively small blood supply so put 2+2 together, ld may be low compared to the body weight of the birds but the poison would be my first call

[MoChara 1,600]

I'm also inclined to the poison to be honest. I've had hens and roosters just drop dead or die suddenly, but never had any blood out of them before hand etc.

 

I don't put poison down at all anymore because all my dogs/poultry/animals are practically free range at all times so I won't risk it.

 

Only place I'll put it is in shed in a length of pipe tied so they have to eat it in there.

 

 

The chickens wouldn't have been nibbling on a poisoned mouse/rat? I watched one of my roosters swallow a whole mouse once so any things possible!

[neil cooney 10,415]

I'd go with the poison too. Shouldn't be used unless you know what you're doing.

[northern lad 2,292]

Strange non of the cocks died,if it was poison

[ratattack 111]

Strange non of the cocks died,if it was poison

Exactly Why I'm slightly puzzled! Plus they are smaller birds so should in theory be more susceptible.

 

The amount of poison put down was minimal much less than what would kill 1 hen not 5, the LD50 is 1kg of poison per kg of bird, the birds were 3kg each at least. So you are looking at 10kg of poison there! Very unlikely imo. They were running around doing what chickens do at 3pm and 2 were dead by 5pm with no signs of poisoning such as lethargy or bleeding. It's very odd.

[neil82 1,019]

so according to your logic and calculations if this stuff is as toxic to rats as it is to chickens they would have to eat their own body weight in poison to be effective, either its crap or your calculations are wrong, pluck one of the dead birds, if there are no external injuries visible and you`ve got blood all over the place then it must be from internal bleeding and they are shitting it out

[Chid 6,379]

Could the hens of been egg bound?

[ratattack 111]

so according to your logic and calculations if this stuff is as toxic to rats as it is to chickens they would have to eat their own body weight in poison to be effective, either its crap or your calculations are wrong, pluck one of the dead birds, if there are no external injuries visible and you`ve got blood all over the place then it must be from internal bleeding and they are shitting it out

The birds are full of maggots now.

 

Do you know what LD50 is? It is the amount of poison required to be lethal to 50% of a given population. The LD 50 for a rat is 9g of difenacoum which is the bait that's been used.

See the attached chart and do some maths for a 3kg chicken.

 

Here you can see how poison affects different animals.

 

Egg bound is a possibility

Edited July 8, 2015 by ratattack

[BGD 6,385]

Strange non of the cocks died,if it was poison

 

The cocks had the strength to fight off their attacker.

 

Trust me. Bummed to death