Lead and Zinc: cause for alarm?

[mintyivyy1]

Hi all,

I've been posting on another thread for some time about our saga with chickens lead and zinc levels. We've done everything under the sun including trucking in multiple feet of new soil, we built the worlds most impenetrable run, etc, but they still managed to get into something. A few chickens have elevated zinc/lead levels, one has metal in her gizzard, it's been unbelievably emotional and difficult.

The research I've done is scattered, but it appears that a large portion of backyard chickens do have some lead content in their bodies and do just fine. Recognizing that heavy metal toxicity can also cause symptoms and/or sudden death, I'm wondering how devastated to be since they all are behaving fine. Also curious if folks have resources for checking eggs for lead/zinc levels. Could it be that most owners just don't bring their chickens to the vet for regular heavy metal testing and plenty of chickens eat something silly, pass it, and then do fine?

One of them underwent chelation therapy but she still has some metal in her gizzard, we've been giving her fiber and mineral oil to pass under advisement of a vet. We tested TEN chickens for heavy metals. (again, it's been a rough few weeks.) We're also going to build a new coop and move them. We just want them to have good lives and be able to enjoy their eggs.

Thanks for any resources. Metals in blood are measured in parts per million or billion; unsure how that might transfer to eggs. There's also much less info about zinc than lead.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Heavy metals build up in the system. Birds that had elevated levels will still have elevated levels. Whether this somehow transfers to an egg I'd not know but doubt it.

If you've covered the offending soil then they can't pick up more but will still have metal inside them. How does moving a coop change that?

 

[mintyivyy1]

Heavy metals build up in the system. Birds that had elevated levels will still have elevated levels. Whether this somehow transfers to an egg I'd not know but doubt it.

If you've covered the offending soil then they can't pick up more but will still have metal inside them. How does moving a coop change that?

Thanks for the reply. the vet was like "Move the coop." She is suspicious that there's somehow a source we're missing. Only one has confirmed metal in her gizzard, the rest may just have eaten and passed it but levels are higher, particularly zinc. I've read it does pass to the egg, so we can also get eggs tested.