Quick update on the funny farm

After the baby bunny debacle, we lost 2 more. The 5 left are in with Momma & she has resumed her Good Momma status. Yay!

The chicks are all doing well.

Of the 3 poults, we've lost one white. After getting the buns situated & everything became calm again, I was checking the brooders & found a dead poult. No warning, just..... gone. I noticed the other 2 were acting very strangely. Lethargic, watery poops, listless & EXTREMELY thirsty! I immediately brought them into the house into a makeshift brooder, aka ICU. I was able to use google & narrow their illness down to mycotoxicosis. Saturday night I almost culled the white, but Hubba talked me out of it. The poult was convulsing & his poop was pure clear liquid. He had zero control over his body, and the poor thing couldn't stand. He had even quit eating & drinking. I decided to force feed both of them some vitamin & apple cider vinegar water and pray for the best.

The next day I started out feeding them the same water mixture, and later in the day after the convulsing had quit, I started alternating between the water mix & baby rice cereal mixed with milk. I scrambled an egg & mixed in some dairy kefir & apple cider vinegar. By early evening they were FIGHTING me on the force feeding. By Monday evening their poops had become a mix of clear liquid & white liquid. There was no more convulsing & they began chirping quietly. They were still a bit listless & lethargic, so I added some rolled oats & dry rice cereal to their PICU (poultry ICU). They weren't touching it. Before bed I added a smidge of the feed they were accustomed to & by morning, it was gone. Every.little.bit. Tuesday morning brought the sweet songs a poult sings, solid poops & hunger. They were up on their feet, they were once again interested in my rings (oo, shiny!), they were eating as soon as I added food. They were even FIGHTING over morsels!!! Last night at 3am, we were awakened by the VERY.LOUD.singing.....

For fear that it was the feed as mentioned in the above link (as well as copied below), we've decided to begin getting the animals over to homemade feed. It's been on my list, but this turkey thing has me ready to jump into it!! I've already begun on a small scale with the poults- rolled oats, dry rice baby cereal, kelp, hulled sunflower seed. I'm currently waiting on some prices from a local store to order some bulk bags of stuff. I've found several recipes & pending prices, will decide on the mix we can afford that we feel is right.

So as of today, we have 2 healthy poults of 3, 5 healthy baby bunnies of 10 & an urban homesteader in need of some calgon.

MYCOTOXICOSIS

Alflatoxin and many other mycotoxins are produced by fungi growing in raw materials or finished feed. The toxins are very stable and remain in the feed indefinitely. Major effects vary from slight ill-health to substantial mortality. Symptoms include reduced appetite which may be due to unpalatability of the feed, lethargy, diarrhoea, thirst, prostration, poor growth, reduced egg production and immunosuppression. There is frequently severe damage to liver, kidneys and other organs. Diagnosis of disease in the birds may be difficult or impossible. Products are available to prevent mould growth in the stored feed. No effective treatment but vitamin supplements may be helpful.