chickens, eggs, and lead exposure.

[ChaoSS]

Any one have information ibn this? I have a target that I use for shooting air rifle in the backyard. It's a plastic bin filled with dirt. I guess the dogs thought there might be food in it and knocked it over and got the lid off. The chickens tore through the dirt and scattered it around.

So now my concern is that they may likely have eaten some of the pellets. Is there a time period I should wait before eating eggs from them? I have no idea how I would go about getting them tested around here or what that would cost.

 

[Folly's place]

Xrays will easily show shot in the birds, or not. Lead is toxic to everyone, so I'd want to know. Pellets would likely stay in the gizzard and poison the bird. Mary

 

[ChaoSS]

I'd imagine that for what it would cost to x Ray the flock it m would be cheaper to butcher and start all over.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree completely, but it is an answer. Butchering the birds, and eating any who did NOT have lead shot inside, would be cheaper, but would be kind of final for his flock. I hope that there's ammo for his rifle NOT made of lead? Mary

 

[ChaoSS]

I could do that. It could suck going the next 5/6 months with no fresh eggs. I wouldn't mind changing the breeds I have though. I wanted broodies, I got them, but they won't cooperate with me.

 

[ChaoSS]

I'm reading what I can on the subject right now. Seems if any birds ate any pellets they are likely to get sick. Seems maybe I can just watch the flock, throw out any eggs for say, 30 days, and cull any sick birds.

Does that sound like a bad idea?

 

[Folly's place]

If any bird eating even one pellet will get noticably ill, maybe. If you could have subclinical illness in a bird, not the best plan. Any level of lead is too much to eat, so a very mildly affected hen who continues to lay eggs could be a problem. More research? Mary

 

[dfalchek]

My flock will be in an urban area, and I'm confronting this issue now. An old outbuilding I removed and a nearby fence both tested positive for lead and raised concerns for me since the enclosed run is on ground. In an abundance of caution, I just started removing and replacing a layer of soil in the coop, testing the underlying soil, and, eventually, testing an egg. This is an challenge of poultry keeping I did not anticipate.