Several chicken friends have been having issues with our chickens eating like crazy, but not gaining or holding weight and even dying. I spoke with a friend with over 30 years experience in chickens and asked him if he was having any issues with either respiratory or weight loss in his birds and here is what he replied:
i havent seen any respiratory problems. i did recently have problems with one feed dealer in taunton who grinds their own feed. the salt content was way too high. i lost 6 birds from it including a large fowl game hen which are usally tough... as nails. they were drinking water like there was no tommorrow and losing weight like crazy. they acted like they were freezing cold. my birds have been out in way worse cold than weve had and none died. the poultry inspector came down to see and he was the one who suspected salt poisoning. so he took a sample of the feed and sent it to the lab and it was like 10 times too high. needless to say i wont be going there again. this all took place in less than a week. the dealer is trying to blame it on the weather or 'something'. it costs big$$ to have the birds tested and even if you sued them youd never get it all back. ill stick with tractor supply or nutrena from now on. we have a blueseal dealer down here but he was an jerk to rosemary over a bag of goat food, so i never go there. i doubt he'd let me now anyways!
i havent seen any respiratory problems. i did recently have problems with one feed dealer in taunton who grinds their own feed. the salt content was way too high. i lost 6 birds from it including a large fowl game hen which are usally tough... as nails. they were drinking water like there was no tommorrow and losing weight like crazy. they acted like they were freezing cold. my birds have been out in way worse cold than weve had and none died. the poultry inspector came down to see and he was the one who suspected salt poisoning. so he took a sample of the feed and sent it to the lab and it was like 10 times too high. needless to say i wont be going there again. this all took place in less than a week. the dealer is trying to blame it on the weather or 'something'. it costs big$$ to have the birds tested and even if you sued them youd never get it all back. ill stick with tractor supply or nutrena from now on. we have a blueseal dealer down here but he was an jerk to rosemary over a bag of goat food, so i never go there. i doubt he'd let me now anyways!
