Best Iodine Supplement

[chickchickchooray]

What brands do y'all use to add iodine to your flocks daily diet, and how much/day? Just processed some older chickens today and found we have tan livers - we did have some fat, so it's either fatty livers or soil and feed completely depleted of iodine.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Iodine is a mineral that, when deficient, leads to thyroid disease (goiter) and metabolic dysfunction as a result of low thyroid hormone synthesis.

How old were they and what do you feed to your flock, including how often they got scratch or other treats?
Was the liver issues dpecific to gender? Were hens active in laying?

 

[chickchickchooray]

Iodine is a mineral that, when deficient, leads to thyroid disease (goiter) and metabolic dysfunction as a result of low thyroid hormone synthesis.

How old were they and what do you feed to your flock, including how often they got scratch or other treats?
Was the liver issues dpecific to gender? Were hens active in laying?

They were all laying hens, all about 1 year old. We gave them scraps about every other day, eggs/eggshells to add calcium almost daily, and we provide tucker milling show flock developer feed (which is good for a mixed flock with geese, etc.). I've been tossing a LOT of scratch lately to get them scratching through the coop, so that was almost daily for the past 1-2 months, but only occasionally prior to that. We've never seen this issue in our roosters, just the hens from today, which was our first time processing females! Thank you for any help on this one.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Ahh..it’s the scratch that caused the fatty liver. Adding iodine to your feed will not solve the issue and could potenitally be harmful if they are not iodine deficient. I will link you to a good thread from this past March on this exact subject.
U_Stormcrow is an expert on nutritional science in poultry and gives a detailed explaination, but bottom line is to limit scratch and treats to once a week

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-truth-about-fatty-liver-disease.1570246/

 

[Ridgerunner]

They were all laying hens, all about 1 year old. We've never seen this issue in our roosters, just the hens from today, which was our first time processing females!

Fatty Liver Syndrome (FLS) is a real thing, I'm not disputing that at all. But I suspect what you are seeing in the fat is simply a difference in sexes. Before a pullet or hen starts to lay she stores up excess fat. It's usually in the pelvic area in something called a fat pad but can be distributed throughout the cavity, including on the organs. I don't know how you tell the difference in FLS and this excess fat and I don't know how you tell the difference between this excess fat and obesity. I don't know if @U_Stormcrow can help me out.

The purpose of a hen storing up excess fat is so she can live mostly on that fat when she is broody. That way she can stay on the nest and take care of the eggs instead of having to be out looking for food and water. This is every pullet and hen whether they ever go broody or not. Some store more fat than others but I've butchered enough pullets, hens, cockerels, and roosters that the difference between sexes is obvious. I refuse to believe that every female I have ever butchered has FLS and none of the males do.