- Mar 14, 2013
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My 3 chickens have had diaharria for a while now. First I thought they might have parasites of some kind and followed instructions about putting food grade DE in their feed. The diaharria now seems a bit better but is not gone and it does not seem to have as much of the white part which is the urine I believe.
Now I am concerned that they could have zinc poisoning from my putting apple cider vinegar in their galvanized aluminum water container as instructed to keep algae down. Now I hear that this is bad because it breaks down the coating which is made of zinc. So I am keeping a number of stainless steel pots filled with fresh water instead and no acv in it. I freshen the water several times a day.
A new development that I have noticed is that their egg shells are thinner and the also they are laying less. We are no longer eating the eggs for fear of contamination.
I feed them a high quality layer pack crumble with oyster shells as one of the ingredients. So I doubt that it is causing the thinner shells. They have been eating it for years. They also free range part of the day.
Their appetite is still good but always from the beginning they have been rather thin. Their eggs were always fabulous and shells nice and thick before this even though they are thin. They free range a lot so they get plenty of exercise and I have always assumed that their thinness is because of that because their diet is pretty great.
Any advice would be most welcome and appreciated.
Kathleen
Now I am concerned that they could have zinc poisoning from my putting apple cider vinegar in their galvanized aluminum water container as instructed to keep algae down. Now I hear that this is bad because it breaks down the coating which is made of zinc. So I am keeping a number of stainless steel pots filled with fresh water instead and no acv in it. I freshen the water several times a day.
A new development that I have noticed is that their egg shells are thinner and the also they are laying less. We are no longer eating the eggs for fear of contamination.
I feed them a high quality layer pack crumble with oyster shells as one of the ingredients. So I doubt that it is causing the thinner shells. They have been eating it for years. They also free range part of the day.
Their appetite is still good but always from the beginning they have been rather thin. Their eggs were always fabulous and shells nice and thick before this even though they are thin. They free range a lot so they get plenty of exercise and I have always assumed that their thinness is because of that because their diet is pretty great.
Any advice would be most welcome and appreciated.
Kathleen
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