Chick Grower? Flock Raiser? All Flock?

[Zach123]

I think he should be fine. While he may have had a little too much calcium, it was not for a prolonged period of time and I think a good amount of it probably passed through, and since he is so young, and still growing a lot, more still probably went to bone and feather growth. Its good that you took him off it though, as too much calcium (too much anything really) is generally not advised. I have no idea how long calcium stays in the system, but Im guessing that since it was just a three week period no long lasting damage will occur from him drinking water with ACV. Remember though that many dark green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach are also sources of calcium.

Many years ago I once had a rooster named Judy and since it was my first venture in chickens, I had no clue that roosters and layer feed were a no go. He lived on layer mash with my hens for a looong time until he was taken to a farm in New Mexico. I had the same problem with him as you do yours, he lived with the hens so trying to keep him from layer feed would indeed have been a challenge. As long as he lived with me he never showed any signs or symptoms of anything being wrong with him due to the layer feed. He lived happy and (seemingly) healthy so meybe this whole rooster layer feed thing is just a myth or meybe I got lucky or who knows. The point is that if I was you I would not get too hung up on this situation, chances are very likely your roo will be perfectly fine and live a long happy life driving you mad from dawn til dusk!

 

[ClareScifi]

Thank you, Zach.

My boy is a chowhound, though. He seems to eat more than the hens and my other roosters, so I don't know how much layer mash he may have consumed over a 3-week period. I think he eats so much because I raised him by hand indoors, after his StepMama and brother nearly pecked him to death when he was hatched.

He proceeded to strip all the plants I was overwintering in my solarium, where I raised him. I think he developed a voracious appetite out of boredom, since he had no chickens to play with growing up.

Now that the chickens have finally accepted him, he is in 7th Heaven, playing with them all day, but he still eats like a Piggy!

I do try to limit spinach and broccoli. The chickens love it, but I know the calcium in it is a problem.

I still keep him in the solarium at night but I'm debating leaving him outside in the coop with the girls tonight. It is supposed to get down to only 45 F tonight, warmer than usual.

This morning, when I was feeding the girls their layer mash, before I brought him out of the solarium to be with them, he got mad at me for taking so long and crowed nonstop. He is a very loveable brat this way. He wouldn't stop crowing until I put him in with his girls! I wonder what the people who share the house with me thought.

Once I took him out of the solarium and put him in with his hens, he didn't crow the rest of the day! Oh, brother. I have lots of coordinating to figure out.

The girls spilled their mash tonight on the ground. I hope he didn't get into it after I let him out of the coop so they could go inside for the night.

If I leave him in the coop with them it will be harder to feed them separately in the morning, unless I let him out to free-range, and that might make him mad.

 

[Den in Penn]

Just remember ClareSciFi, all living things need some calcium. Getting into the girls mash or eating some spinach and broccoli isn't a death sentence.

 

[ClareScifi]

I know, Den in Penn, or at least I hope it isn't a death sentence. Not much seems to have been published on rooster biology, that I can find. Contributions to the field are badly needed.

I bought an Earthbound Farms Organic Power Meal, and I was feeding the chickens the greens out of it, and I noticed they were munching down on one more than the other. This was day before yesterday. I had thought the contents were all leafy greens, as are exclusively in the Tomatillo Black Bean Power Meal, but this was a Cranberry Wheat Protein variety, and it had some spinach in it! Those little chooks were so pleased at my mistake (feeding them a few leaves of spinach), until I caught on. LOL. I had to giggle. The joke was on me.

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, no. My sister gave me some organic beet greens to feed my chickens, and I forgot that they were high in calcium, too. It just registered with me, and I found this:

http://askville.amazon.com/true-raw-spinach-kidney-stones/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=13136052

I did give some of them to my rooster. I hope I haven't hurt his health.

No wonder all 4 girls have been laying so marvelously this week. It must be from the calcium in the beet greens!

 

[galanie]

I doubt you hurt your rooster. For the calcium to hurt them, it has to be fed for a while, every day. Some say 2 weeks, some say more.

 

[ClareScifi]

Where did you find the reference to two weeks' worth of calcium hurting roosters, Galanie? I would like to read it for myself.

I just consulted a Ph.D. poultry expert and he said in his experience he hasn't heard of many problems with feeding roosters laying mash. That is a relief. Although I'm glad I have the rooster off it now and on All Flock instead.

Also, he said the ACV I've put in the drinking water may well have helped flush any excess calcium out of his kidneys, so that's good.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have fed roosters laying mash most of the time for 19 years & have never had a problem. Geez, again I am glad there was no BYC when I started out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here are a few links that discuss “medicated” feed and immunity in birds. If you follow the third link, you can see that there are different types of coccidiostats and coccidiocides. Unless you know which medicines are in the “medicated” feed you are talking about, you can jump to the wrong conclusions.

Certain medicated feeds that contain coccidiocides are intended to destroy the protozoa that cause coccidiosis. Certain medicated feeds that contain coccidiostats are intended to allow immunity to develop. They are not mentioned here, but there could even be something totally different in some “medicated’ feeds.

http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...key-poults-pullets-ducklings-and-goslings.pdf

so it is strongly recommended to feed young birds a feed containing an anticoccidial medication. SHUR-GAIN chicken starting feeds are medicated to prevent coccidiosis. Birds will develop a natural immunity to coccidiosis and thus medicated feeds are no longer required after 10 weeks of age.



http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000475_Rep497.pdf

Turkeys should develop immunity to coccidiosis while eating medicated starter feed.



http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_91839.html

To achieve this, coccidiostats are used at a low concentration in feed to prevent disease but allow some exposure to stimulate immunity

As for the rooster and calcium question, I don’t worry about it. The rooster is no longer growing so I don’t worry about his skeleton forming wrong. His internal organs have developed and are pretty much capable of eliminating the excess. Since he is not laying eggs, a rooster normally does not eat as much feed as a laying hen anyway so he is not getting as much total calcium as the hen gets. I feel I have other things more important to worry about. But if you are worried, just feed your flock Grower or Flock Raiser and offer oyster shell on the side.

 

[ClareScifi]

Cindy,

How long did your roosters live, fed laying mash?

My rooster is a special pet, hand raised by me. I want him to live as long as possible. I don't have him for practical reasons, unlike most people. From what I've read, most people are happy if their roosters live a couple of years only. But roosters can live a decade, if they are fed correctly and taken good care of. That's what I'd like for my boy.

So if you have a rooster and he dies after only 2 or 3 years, you can't be sure that it wasn't the laying mash that killed him. The excess calcium in it may have caused him to die of renal failure.

So the having no problems with feeding them laying mash is all relative, depending on what your purposes with your roosters are. I don't have predators, so I don't have to worry about him dying early from a predator killing him, but I do have to worry about what he eats and drinks. I had a hen succumb to fatty liver disease, I think, last summer, so I'm extra cautious now.

I'm very glad there is BYC. And Ph.D. experts. :>)