I side with Ridgerunner, Fred's Hens, Pdirt and others that said excess calcium for young birds is a problem and have to disagree that no harm was done.
For non laying birds, 1% calcium is more than enough. Most layer feeds are from 3.5-4+% calcium.
Adult birds with developed kidneys can sometimes handle heavier loads of calcium but young birds can't. A chicken has 6 kidney divisions that can be overwhelmed by excess calcium. If they have 2 functioning divisions, they can still be productive. That doesn't mean damage hasn't been done. Roosters can consume excess calcium but when they do so, they die at 4 times the rate of hens.
Those that have birds die for unknown reasons and don't have a proper necropsy performed, don't know what killed the bird. Birds with renal failure from excess calcium usually don't show symptoms, they just die.
Here's real research rather than anecdotal information.
Pullets and hens:
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract
http://www.worldpoultry.net/Breeder...-damage-is-emerging-in-laying-hens-WP008719W/
http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf
http://www.neobio.biz/database/n-5data5-2/n-5data5-2-7.pdf
Roosters not only get kidney damage but also have diminished fertility:
http://www.pjbs.org/ijps/fin1947.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10780656
http://www.reproduction-online.org/content/early/2011/06/13/REP-11-0131.full.pdf
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/2337/urolithiasis-in-male-broiler-breeders
It would be great if people would stop declaring calcium does no damage to birds that aren't actively producing egg shells when their only anecdotal evidence is that they did so and their bird supposedly didn't die from renal failure or gout. They didn't get a necropsy with the unexplained death though, did they?
For non laying birds, 1% calcium is more than enough. Most layer feeds are from 3.5-4+% calcium.
Adult birds with developed kidneys can sometimes handle heavier loads of calcium but young birds can't. A chicken has 6 kidney divisions that can be overwhelmed by excess calcium. If they have 2 functioning divisions, they can still be productive. That doesn't mean damage hasn't been done. Roosters can consume excess calcium but when they do so, they die at 4 times the rate of hens.
Those that have birds die for unknown reasons and don't have a proper necropsy performed, don't know what killed the bird. Birds with renal failure from excess calcium usually don't show symptoms, they just die.
Here's real research rather than anecdotal information.
Pullets and hens:
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract
http://www.worldpoultry.net/Breeder...-damage-is-emerging-in-laying-hens-WP008719W/
http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf
http://www.neobio.biz/database/n-5data5-2/n-5data5-2-7.pdf
Roosters not only get kidney damage but also have diminished fertility:
http://www.pjbs.org/ijps/fin1947.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10780656
http://www.reproduction-online.org/content/early/2011/06/13/REP-11-0131.full.pdf
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/2337/urolithiasis-in-male-broiler-breeders
It would be great if people would stop declaring calcium does no damage to birds that aren't actively producing egg shells when their only anecdotal evidence is that they did so and their bird supposedly didn't die from renal failure or gout. They didn't get a necropsy with the unexplained death though, did they?
