John Vance / 22 Dec 2010 22:03
This post is an updated post of a message I posted on the PML in June of
2008. I thought revisiting the info would be useful to this topic.
Many years ago, I used red cell but stopped when I was warned by another
fancier that there was to much iron in the product and problems could
result. Of course I know that "to much" is relative to the dose one uses and
the frequency of use.
Collin Walker states on his website:
"Fanciers often add iron to the diet or copper sulphate to the drinker (to
combat canker). These are both heavy metals that are quickly absorbed into
the system but only slowly excreted. With repeated low doses, these birds
look fine but as the minerals accumulate in their bodies they have a variety
of effects. The most common of these in the stock loft is reduced fertility.
It can be hard for the fancier to relate the dead-in-shell youngsters, clear
eggs and non-laying hens experienced during breeding to these treatments,
which may have been given months earlier."
Using Colin Walker's information, I have translated his recommended dose to
a comparable amount of Red Cell (based on iron content) and find that
according to Colin Walker, one would use 1.25 teaspoons of Red Cell / per
gallon of water / once a week. By the way, Red Cell also contains Copper
Sulphate
There are two caveats with this conversion:
1) On hot days, birds drink more than on temperate days so think rather that
you would use 1.25 teaspoons per 75 birds. If you give on the feed, then
heat is no issue just 1.25 teaspoons per 75 birds on the feed / once a week.
2) If you are using other vitamin and or mineral supplements, then 1.25
teaspoons a week of Red Cell may be more than needed.
Other considerations:
Iron is not easily flushed out of the system so a build up can take weeks to
correct itself. The only self regulation of iron that the body has, is along
the epithelial cell lining of the digestive tract. These epithelial cells,
regulate the uptake of iron and this is the only mechanism I know of for the
pigeon to control the uptake of iron into the body.
When we overdose the digestive tract with iron supplements, we damage the
epithelial cell lining, preventing them from regulating iron absorption.
High blood concentrations of iron damage cells in the heart, liver and
elsewhere, which can cause serious problems, including long-term organ
damage and even death.
I do not thing that even doubling the dosage recommended above even comes
close to the concentrations of iron needed to cause damage, but it is useful
to know that one needs to be aware of the limits.
I have heard some fanciers claim that to much Red Cell makes the birds
listless and slows them during the races. These are observations by fanciers
who may have a completely different loft management system then yourself and
may use other supplements besides Red Cell that you might not be using.
I am sure that there are many fancier on the PML who disagree with the above
statements about the risk associated with using Red Cell. I know of one
pigeon supplier that recommends one teaspoon of Red Cell per 20 pigeons,
Global used to recommend 1 Teaspoon for 1/2 gallon of water, twice a week,
Foys recommended 1 tablespoon to a gallon of drinking water. I have read
several fanciers recommend one teaspoon per gallon of water, so there are
varying dosage levels being recommended.
Red Cell has 49.3 mg Iron per teaspoon. The V/M Booster (vitamin and Mineral
product) that I sell contains 68 mg Iron per teaspoon, but I only recommend
1/4 teaspoon (or 1/2 teaspoon if not using any other vitamin or mineral
sources) per 80 birds in the water, once a week. Red Cell contains 7.23 mg
of Copper per teaspoon while V/M Booster contains 6.8 mg per teaspoon (1/4 -
1/2 teaspoon per 80 birds recommended). So, I have always recommended
smaller doses of these heavy metals than other suppliers.
You are the one who competes in your area, you know what other products you
are using including what other grits or other mineral or vitamins you use,
you know whether you have high mineral content in your water so you know
best how your birds are performing against your competition.
Regardless of the dose size or frequency you use, I just want fanciers to
know of the possible symptoms their birds might experience if overdosed with
iron supplements or copper sulphate, so they can be on the lookout for those
symptoms.
John Vance
http://www.RacingPigeonMall.com
Submitted by Modie Mascagni on 12/22/2010 10:10:23 PM