I Accidentally Fed my Drake Layer Feed for a Month

[ChickForLife]

Hello! So my welsh harlequin female was laying eggs then just stopped. Not sure why. So I gave the whole flock feed with calcium and gave oyster shells in a bowl, but no laying. This went on for about a month until I just realized today that, oh shoot, I have a drake. I didn't even think about my drake when buying the layer feed. So he has been eating this layer feed for a while and I am worried. I am buying all flock today and switching their feed, but I am wondering if he will be okay and if there is anything I should do?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

He will be fine. If it were me, I'd switch back to a non-layer feed. I have a mixed flock with roosters and drakes. I offer an all flock feed plus leave oyster shell and crushed egg shell out for layers.

 

[ChickForLife]

He will be fine. If it were me, I'd switch back to a non-layer feed. I have a mixed flock with roosters and drakes. I offer an all flock feed plus leave oyster shell and crushed egg shell out for layers.

Phew! Thank you!

 

[ChickForLife]

Ok, I switched their feed to multi-flock!

 

[WallyG74]

If you ask some on here, his head should start spinning around and pop off. It won’t hurt him a bit.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Calcium toxicity is a progressive disease. The birds most sensitive to it are hatchlings - they weight nothing, and are just putting their little bodies together. The damage done has a time component (how long were they fed excess) and a quantity component (how much excess were they fed). Its similar to smoking. No one can point at a given cigarette and say, with any confidence, "that one will give you cancer". But they can say, with the confidence of statistical certainty, that the younger you start, the more you smoke, and the longer you smoke, the more likely you are to get one (or more) smoking-related cancers.

Calcium builds up in the internal organs, and the damage it does is largely "invisible" until its quite severe. Excess calcium negatively affects feed conversion, leads to lesions on the internal organs, gout, urinary problems, and the like - but externally, until they are quite severe, you likely won't notice a problem. Thus the many people claiming its no concern whatsoever - because they've never seen their birds at full potential.

There are individual cases of a single bag of feed killing a flock of birds - but those cases involve manufacturing errors placing calcium at levels up to 10x intended.

Now that you are worried, the good news.

In broilers (similar feed consumption to a drake), at 12 weeks from hatching, clinical evidence of calcium toxicity was noted in most of the test flock in studies - but external evidence was near zero. The same experiment with birds over 26 weeks, clinical evidence was much less obvious (much less severe and much less widespread), external evidence was zero.

Assuming your drake was essentially mature, and that dosage was only a month, and that the layer being offered was likely in the 3.5-4.5% calcium range, I would expect that even if you were to butcher him today and poke about his organs, you would be hard pressed to find any signs of physical damage, and no measurable long term effects. The short term effects of reduced feed efficiency due to impaired nutrient absorption you've already paid for.

In the minds of some, the above is "head spinning around and popping off".

 

[ChickForLife]

Calcium toxicity is a progressive disease. The birds most sensitive to it are hatchlings - they weight nothing, and are just putting their little bodies together. The damage done has a time component (how long were they fed excess) and a quantity component (how much excess were they fed). Its similar to smoking. No one can point at a given cigarette and say, with any confidence, "that one will give you cancer". But they can say, with the confidence of statistical certainty, that the younger you start, the more you smoke, and the longer you smoke, the more likely you are to get one (or more) smoking-related cancers.

Calcium builds up in the internal organs, and the damage it does is largely "invisible" until its quite severe. Excess calcium negatively affects feed conversion, leads to lesions on the internal organs, gout, urinary problems, and the like - but externally, until they are quite severe, you likely won't notice a problem. Thus the many people claiming its no concern whatsoever - because they've never seen their birds at full potential.

There are individual cases of a single bag of feed killing a flock of birds - but those cases involve manufacturing errors placing calcium at levels up to 10x intended.

Now that you are worried, the good news.

In broilers (similar feed consumption to a drake), at 12 weeks from hatching, clinical evidence of calcium toxicity was noted in most of the test flock in studies - but external evidence was near zero. The same experiment with birds over 26 weeks, clinical evidence was much less obvious (much less severe and much less widespread), external evidence was zero.

Assuming your drake was essentially mature, and that dosage was only a month, and that the layer being offered was likely in the 3.5-4.5% calcium range, I would expect that even if you were to butcher him today and poke about his organs, you would be hard pressed to find any signs of physical damage, and no measurable long term effects. The short term effects of reduced feed efficiency due to impaired nutrient absorption you've already paid for.

In the minds of some, the above is "head spinning around and popping off".

Alright! Thank you for easing my stress and teaching me something new!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Ok, I switched their feed to multi-flock!

I've fed my guys layer feed here and there, it won't hurt in the short term. But, I feel better when they get a non-layer feed.
Grower/starter has similar percentages, so in a pinch, I will also grab that if there is no all flock feed available since I shop at local feed mills and sometimes they are out of what I normally get.

 

[WallyG74]

In the minds of some, the above is "head spinning around and popping off".

You had to take a bow after that long speech. Great job!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and for what its worth, my flock is in my sig. I usually have between 8 and 12 ducks, typically two drakes. I also, for reasons not important here, feed my birds in ways I don't recommend the typical backyard owner do. That's a mix that ends up at 20% protein, but around 2.8% calcium.

My sample size is so small as to not be worthy of being called anecdote, much less data, but I have had no deaths attributed to calcium toxicity. However, when I've culled older drakes (12-15 mo) to make room for fresh breeders. there have been visible signs of the progression on the intestines and liver. I've not closely inspected the kidneys, but assume the signs were present there as well. one of these days, i'll take a photo