l-lysine for poultry?

[romea]

two of my chickens are exhibiting signs of respiratory disease and i am reluctant to treat the whole flock with antibiotics - which, as we all know, does very little against viruses.

i am familiar with the benefits of l-lysine supplementation against the herpes simplex virus as well as against respiratory diseases in cats.
does anybody have any information/suggestion re: the dosage of l-lysine for a chicken?

 

[dawg53]

two of my chickens are exhibiting signs of respiratory disease and i am reluctant to treat the whole flock with antibiotics - which, as we all know, does very little against viruses.

i am familiar with the benefits of l-lysine supplementation against the herpes simplex virus as well as against respiratory diseases in cats.
does anybody have any information/suggestion re: the dosage of l-lysine for a chicken?

Most commercial chicken feeds already contain a minimum of 0.7% lysine in their product. Anything more could possibly upset the internal metabolizing balance. As far as I know, there has been testing done in broilers, but not layers. The testing in broilers didnt have anything to do with diseases, it was absorption and growth involving feed conversion.

 

[romea]

yes, i read those and, as you said, the focus was not on disease intervention but protein absorbtion and growth ratio etc...
in what way, do you feel, could high doses of l-lysine upset the metabolism? (i am not the least bit familiar with the subject of chemical balances in biological systems.)

depending on the source, high doses of this amino acid in humans has either practically no side effects at all or can cause stomach upsets and diarrhea and possibly increase the absorption of calcium. in animals studies it has caused gallstones and elevated cholesterol.

then again, there is a joke that experimenting with rats causes them to get cancer...

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link for you. It looks like the feed manufacturers got it right:
http://medwelljournals.com/fulltext/?doi=javaa.2011.532.537

 

[romea]

Here's a link for you. It looks like the feed manufacturers got it right:
http://medwelljournals.com/fulltext/?doi=javaa.2011.532.537

thank you.
interestingly, the whole conclusion of this 2011 submission is copied (word for word) from the mentioned article by ayupov written in 1985.
in any event: the main thing i am taking away from this is that excess lysine is excreted...

 

[casportpony]

Let us know how they respond if you decide to use it.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

If you live in the US you could call your State vet and ask about what it would take to have one tested. Some states will send a vet out to take blood and/or nasal swabs.

State Vets


Labs listed by state


-Kathy

 

[romea]

hi kathy,

i will gladly keep you posted.

fyi: i started today with the only lysine i had handy... an expired bottle of "super lysine" manufactured by 'quantum health'.
each tablet contains (theoretically):

lysine - 500 mg
vitamine C - 33.3 mg

as well as:

odorless (?) garlic - 66.7 mg
echinacea 4:1 - 33.3 mg
propolis - 33.3 mg
licorice 4:1 - 5 mg
goldenseal root - 5 mg

it comes in tablets and i ground 2 of those up and added it to 1 litre of water. (i am feeding 7 chickens and 4 bantams.)
i am also giving them "stress-aid" - which is a vitamin supplement and "gro2max" - which is a probiotic. they have received these two (the stress-aid & the gro2max) pretty much daily since our temperatures have plummeted to over -20 at night (-4 fahrenheit).
the 4 bantams are living indoors with us...

... (inside a 'cold-room') yet they do get the same water-mix that i prepare daily.

for the rest of the flock, i am supplying a radiant heater which brings the temperatures inside the coop up by about 10 degrees celsius. (so -20 turns to -10, -15 to -5 etc...) the birds like to hang out in front of the heater, of course, which is locked away inside a kennel so there is no direct contact.

i believe that i am hearing more sneezing/wheezing during the colder days and very little when the temperatures rise above the freezing mark. so this might be an environmental response. however, 1 hen has been sneezing since i got her about three months ago. the second has only started recently during this 'deep freeze'.

i am located in canada (NB just above maine) and i have access to what might be a similar vet-service. i doubt that they perform tests/swabs on backyard flocks though... but i would have to find that out. they are usually geared towards commercial operations and may not be 'allowed' to extend themselves to come out to my small operation. however, they are still accessible and provide help/advice to people like myself and i will eventually run this past a vet i have spoken with in the past. maybe he would be willing to test the chicken if i brought her in... but i will have to weigh the stress vs. the result and ultimately there is really not much one can do other than to help strengthen the immune system. fighting secondary infections via antibiotics is the next option but one i would only explore when the birds show signs of distress.

cheers!

 

[romea]

this update is long overdue…

so here is what happened: nothing.
at least not re: the herbal remedies i tried for weeks. at first i stuck to the l-lysine. then i added st. john’s wort since it, too, is hailed to fight virus infections. after 2 more weeks and no improvement with even more chickens sneezing, i discontinued both remedies and, very reluctantly, used tetracycline (250) - well knowing that antibiotics only help secondary (bacterial) infections. i felt this was my only option.

fyi: the dosage i used was slightly above the manufactures instructions. for one, i can not follow dosages that are calculated for large flocks and huge amounts of water. i ended up using 1/8 teaspoon on 1 litre of water. this is the smallest amount i can measure accurately with the tools i have available. secondly, i am aware that tetracycline is a safe drug and much more is needed to overdose.

i also gave the medication longer than suggested - namely for 2 weeks. during the last 2 days, all sneezing had stopped and my chickens have not had any reoccurrence since.
... and it's been well over a month but since winter is continuing to hold us in its grip, i still keep my fingers crossed...

 

[adickenscoop]

there are a bunch of different remedies! I found some really good information on poultrydvm's feed additives tool, I recommend you check it out.