medicated chick crumb safe for laying chickens and safe to eat eggs?

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gingerchopper

gingerchopper

Chirping
6 Years
May 22, 2013
11
6
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We have a 4 week old chick who is free ranging with our flock of 4. The chick is being fed a medicated crumb, problem being I am having being that the others are getting to it and I cannot isolate the chick or food with any ease. The others are free ranging and eating pellets too, and we have been eating the eggs they are producing. Is this safe for us??? Suddenly crossed my mind that it may not be....
 
This link says that the ingredient should not be given to egg laying chickens due to "Ionophores should not be used in birds laying eggs for human consumption due to the potential for residues to enter the food chain and the possibility of human toxicity."

If it were me I'd not eat the eggs and stop using that feed. Or dispose of all eggs or hatch them while the feed is still being used.
 
I am pretty pipped about this. The feed company I got this from noted what the monensin was but not that if layers ate it eggs would need to be withheld. Horses and dogs yes. I think we have eaten probably about 10-12 eggs as a family over 3 weeks, which probably wont kill us, but my 21/2 and 5 year old have been eating them and it tears me up thinking It may have caused them damage. I am so careful with stuff like this and read all packets... I just assumed, wrongly, as it was not noted it would not be a biggie. I am a novice backyard chicken owner; we are on the increase and things need to be evident. You live and learn. Will be off to buy medication free stuff tomorrow and have contacted the feed company.Any more thoughts would be very welcome. Rant done : )
 
Wow, I never thought about that medicated chick food being unsafe for us to eat.

My chickens all eat it as I have chicks at various ages in the flock, and there is no way to keep the adults off the chicks starter.

I have been eating the eggs for about a year!!!!

What health problems would humans get in the long run?

I thought the medication was for anti parasites.... at least I won't have parasites lol.
 
I used to not worry about such stuff however the older I get when I research the risks associated with what we may put into our bodies I pay attention. Perhaps it started when I worked in Ag chemical industry and learned of restrictions for grazing, feeding, harvest intervals, and plant back interval. When I grew my Cornish Cross birds I kept them separate from the layers and fed them medicated feed for the first bag only. The rest of my flock was switched to non medicated feed before they started to lay last summer.

Contacting the feed producer is a good idea.
 
It is a new zealand brand.... different regulations over here I imagine.
Decided im going to bite the bullet. Chick is 4 weeks old and my reading suggests the chick crumb till 6 weeks. I will try and see if I can isolate him/her to feed but if not, let the flock eat it and withhold eggs until I switch to the next step of food and for the reccomended 10 days afterwards. It will remind me just how mucb free range eggs cost in the supermarket, and how lucky I am to have my on site yummy egg producing entertainment units.
 
Or just change your chick to unmedicated starter and let everyone eat it. A broody hatched, free range chick should have a good immunity to cocci by 4 weeks. Not familiar with the med you've got, but I'm guessing it's for cocci.

jak--you need to check and see what medication is in your feed. My understanding is amprolium is okay, that's what's available in the US for most medicated chick starters. Don't know what you've got locally.
 
You really need to check this out! Fifty horses at a ranch in Clovis CA were recently given feed that had monensin in it. Thirteen have already died, and the prognosis is that all the rest will die. As a result of the article, I looked up why this was used in cattle and chicken feed. It is because the animals can gain wait on 5-10% less feed. However, it is lethally toxic to horses. It causes muscle deterioration including the heart. They die from congestive heart failure.

The symptoms of toxicity vary with the amount of monensin ingested by a horse. Trace amounts may cause a horse to go off his regular feed, show signs of colic and appear unwell for a few days. Larger amounts will cause a horse to show more serious symptoms within a few hours including colic, stiffness, sweating, a lack of co-ordination and the inability to stand.

Make sure your feed does not have any of this product in any feed.
 

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