Wow, this is one old thread. But a good topic. A lot of heavy metals in products tend to usually have a benign state, i.e., they have reacted with oxygen or another element and transformed into an oxide or something similar. Usually, not always, in this oxidized state some toxins/heavy metals are NOT bio available, meaning your body isn't going to absorb the toxins/heavy metals. Aluminum is an excellent example of an element that just doesn't persist in nature except as an oxide. Ever read a sci fi story of an exotic planet with the corrosive atmosphere with life living on it? Well, that is Earth. Oxygen can be a deadly poison and is highly corrosive to a lot of elements and the oxidation of an element releases about as much heat as something burning, AKA a rapid oxidation process.
However, some elements that generally exist as oxides and not in the poisonous/toxic pure state can have their bio availability changed by combining with common substances or a change in pH. Water, oil including the oil on your hands and skin, strong alkalies or acids, even heat and pressure in some extreme cases.
But......
Yah gotta do a risk assessment. What are the odds that your chickens might..... might..... get poisoned by a plastic bucket, a galvanized water bucket, or an aluminum Chinese made chicken feeder? Very low indeed. What are the risks of using some other type of container that might harbor bacteria or when wet allow fungus or mold to colonize the material?
What are the risks in using an open feeder or a homemade or commercial port feeder, AKA rat buffet, or not using any feeder and casting the feed upon the ground? Vermin bring disease and pests like mites. Wild birds poop where they hang out spreading all sorts of diseases or by bathing in the water bucket. Point is there are risks with everything short of bubble wrapping the chickens and giving them big clear plastic balls to run around in. Oh dear, forgot to add vents, the biddies suffocated...
Chickens skate along a razor edge of risk for most of their lives, with disease already present in their bodies but held in check by a healthy immune system. Then they get sold or given away and need transported, so you gotta quarantine the little squawkers because the stress of transportation and handling weakens their immune system and an infection, parasite, or virus multiply out of control. So everything you do, or don't do, plus the things they do or don't do, might have a butterfly effect. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, damned if you don't even know the consequences or that something even exists.
So put things in perspective. Run your hand across a nice expensive granite countertop that has been used for food preparation then do a lead test kit or swab for bacteria and culture the swab for a few days. Nasty! Massive lead contamination in most of the "pretty" granite slabs being sold, low to high levels of radiation and all the decay chain elements including polonium, including the final decay element which is lead it self. But you haven't gotten sick or died yet unlike the countertop fabricator that fabricated the granite and quartz slabs loaded with silica, uranium, and almost every heavy metal known to man.
Bottom line. Enjoy your dang chickens and don't sweat the small stuff. Risks are relative. Might be nuffin.
