Zinc promotes feather recovery of birds

In addition, the supplementation of fresh straw seems to cure skin infections in the birds. These are the findings of research done by Dutch Health Institute for Animals (GD).

Dutch free range, cage and Freiland birds are contending with mysterious skin problems since 2004. The birds lose their feathers and have round damages on belly and cloaca. The mortality of these problems can reach 1% or more per week. No correlation was noted between type of birds, feed producer or type of housing.

Dutch poultry producers try to minimise the mortality by adding acids to the drinking water or feed. Furthermore, the farmers supplement the animals with extra vitamins, biotin, selenium and zinc. The Dutch GD found out that the supplementation of Federfein, a zinc product, has the best results in reducing the skin infections. An elevated zinc supply does not lead to a higher zinc concentration in the liver, but increases the zinc level in the manure.