Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

None of the chicks have names yet. The one who keeps helping with the clean up will need a special name.

Sometimes they end up naming themselves by their action's, too!

 

[BlueBaby]

I just found this article and wonder what the rest of you think about it. Can chicken's get Salmonella or Avian Influenza from contaminated feed?

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/rooted-in-feed

Here's another one telling how contaminants enter the poultry feed supply.

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/how-contaminants-enter-the-poultry-feed-supply

 

[springvalley123]

I just found this article and wonder what the rest of you think about it. Can chicken's get Salmonella or Avian Influenza from contaminated feed?

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/rooted-in-feed

Here's another one telling how contaminants enter the poultry feed supply.

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/how-contaminants-enter-the-poultry-feed-supply

My guess is it's more of an issue for the feed suppliers, and the flocks, kept in the conditions shown in the articles--that is, big commercial egg/meat producers. Those birds are stressed and therefore more succeptible to becoming sickened by bacteria that, in the same amounts, probably wouldn't bother most of our birds. For comparison, the number of the colony forming units (cfu) was in the 100,000 per the article, which is a fraction of the probiotic amounts in pills we humans take (humans with immune issues are warned not to take these pills btw). That said, the picture of the pigeons on the pile of corn is disconcerting, as the feed we all buy probably has some of that corn and pigeon poop in it. Even if our birds are healthy enough, many of us are stressed out and have health conditions, so we might be better off without handling the pigeon-poop-laden food.

 

[wolfwalker]

I just found this article and wonder what the rest of you think about it. Can chicken's get Salmonella or Avian Influenza from contaminated feed?

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/rooted-in-feed

Here's another one telling how contaminants enter the poultry feed supply.

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/how-contaminants-enter-the-poultry-feed-supply

I've read both articles and followed the links.

I dealt with a feed contamination issue last year, I lost quite a few birds and my Rat Terrier due to Aflatoxin in the feed. Missy liked to follow me along during feeding and snarf up any spilled feed. I never gave it a thought as the ingredients would not do her any harm in the small amounts she was able to ingest. That is until I got a bag of contaminated feed.

But following the links and downloading the pamphlet of the company producing the feed sterilization product, I found out that their solution to sterilize feed not cooked into pellets was to add a string of chemicals to formaldehyde to mix with the feed. So while I agree that feed contamination is an issue that has been ignored for the most part, I think a better system needs to be implemented other than adding a known cancer causing agent to sterilize feed.

And while those who make their own feed might feel vindicated, I would caution that there is the same chance of feed contamination in making your own feed as buying milled feed, after all it is the ingredients that are being contaminated according to the article.

 

[BlueBaby]

I've read both articles and followed the links.

I dealt with a feed contamination issue last year, I lost quite a few birds and my Rat Terrier due to Aflatoxin in the feed. Missy liked to follow me along during feeding and snarf up any spilled feed. I never gave it a thought as the ingredients would not do her any harm in the small amounts she was able to ingest. That is until I got a bag of contaminated feed.

But following the links and downloading the pamphlet of the company producing the feed sterilization product, I found out that their solution to sterilize feed not cooked into pellets was to add a string of chemicals to formaldehyde to mix with the feed. So while I agree that feed contamination is an issue that has been ignored for the most part, I think a better system needs to be implemented other than adding a known cancer causing agent to sterilize feed.

And while those who make their own feed might feel vindicated, I would caution that there is the same chance of feed contamination in making your own feed as buying milled feed, after all it is the ingredients that are being contaminated according to the article.

I agree with you, and I'm sorry that you lost some of your bird's and your dog because of it.

 

[Geckolady]

I've read both articles and followed the links.

I dealt with a feed contamination issue last year, I lost quite a few birds and my Rat Terrier due to Aflatoxin in the feed. Missy liked to follow me along during feeding and snarf up any spilled feed. I never gave it a thought as the ingredients would not do her any harm in the small amounts she was able to ingest. That is until I got a bag of contaminated feed.

But following the links and downloading the pamphlet of the company producing the feed sterilization product, I found out that their solution to sterilize feed not cooked into pellets was to add a string of chemicals to formaldehyde to mix with the feed. So while I agree that feed contamination is an issue that has been ignored for the most part, I think a better system needs to be implemented other than adding a known cancer causing agent to sterilize feed.

And while those who make their own feed might feel vindicated, I would caution that there is the same chance of feed contamination in making your own feed as buying milled feed, after all it is the ingredients that are being contaminated according to the article.

Oh no! And so sorry you lost your dog! One of my collies will snack on chicken food if she sees any on the ground.

Toxic feed sounds scary. How often does this occur? Is it just a once in a while fluke?

 

[wolfwalker]

Oh no! And so sorry you lost your dog! One of my collies will snack on chicken food if she sees any on the ground.

Toxic feed sounds scary. How often does this occur? Is it just a once in a while fluke?

From memory, I want to say contaminated feed was a rare thing. But now a days, it seems to be a weekly occurrence when you look at ingredients. Dog and cat food recalls happen all the time, the thing is a lot of the same grain ingredients are in all animal feed.

And if memory serves, the hierarchy for feed stuffs is as follows:

Human grade food

Pet grade [ rejected from human grade ]

livestock [ ingredients rejected from the pet food grade allowed without disclosure ]

discarded / burned / composted

Now granted, not all ingredients, which includes animal protein, follow each level of the list above, but it is eye opening top what is allowed at each level because of bureaucratic / politics and the idea that "it won't do to much because in the wild they eat worse" attitude.

I'm not sure what the answer is to be truthful because for us here in Arizona it is not viable to raise our own feed. We can demand that mills test ingredients, but feed costs are already going up as it is and by demanding testing the feed, mills are going to site that one fact firstly and loudly.

 

[CaroleW]

So sorry to hear of your losses, Wolfwalker. Thank you for sharing your experiences for the rest of us to learn from. I know every time I heard of the feed problems I was searching to see if it was my dog's food. I had some really old chicken scratch stored and I didn't dare feed it to my flocks (it had lost any nutrients anyway, but also wary of aflatoxin poisoning).

If I remember correctly many of the pet feed warnings were aflatoxin in grain ingredients, a kind of mold growing in the grains while stored. It's important to keep the tags off your bags if you dump bags in a bin so you know if you have a number that is recalled.

 

[BlueBaby]

I rehomed the 4 two month old Naked Neck pullet's yesterday to my next door neighbor's. They liked the one with the mohawk, but went ahead and took the other 3 too. I went over and checked on them this morning, and they look to be adjusting well to their new home.

 

[Parront]

So sorry to hear of your losses, Wolfwalker. Thank you for sharing your experiences for the rest of us to learn from. I know every time I heard of the feed problems I was searching to see if it was my dog's food. I had some really old chicken scratch stored and I didn't dare feed it to my flocks (it had lost any nutrients anyway, but also wary of aflatoxin poisoning).

If I remember correctly many of the pet feed warnings were aflatoxin in grain ingredients, a kind of mold growing in the grains while stored. It's important to keep the tags off your bags if you dump bags in a bin so you know if you have a number that is recalled.

The Aflatoxin in corn is made worse by poor growing conditions, like drought which is very bad this year. It is in the corn in the field, before it is even milled into feed. I pay a lot extra for my parrot food which is made with human grade ingredients. The best we can do with our chicken feed is to keep it dry, & check the bag when we open it. If it smells off, or you smell any moldy smell, reject it. I know Tractor Supply will replace it. Problem is you can not smell it usually. Some bedding made from corn cobs will have it, too.