Lead in Galvanized Waterers and Feeder

[CA2PTChickenChick]

Hello Fellow Chicken Keepers - I’m reaching out to this group in a hope to collect information regarding any issues with the use of Galvanized steel waterers and feeder as it relates to lead toxicity. I would like to know if you or someone you know uses has used Galvanized Steel feeder and/or waterers and have experienced any know or suspected issues with Lead poisoning in your flock. Symptoms of lead poisoning are
sudden onset of muscle weakness, loss of appetite, marked weight loss, loss of full control of body movements, drop in egg production, poor quality egg shell production, severe anemia, decreased gastrointestinal motility secondary to blockage of nerve conduction. Chickens often present with delayed crop emptying, sour crop, or crop impactions. Greenish diarrhea may stain feathers around the vent (pasty butt).

See more at: http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/lead-poisoning
It should be noted that hens suffering from lead poisoning can produce eggs that at also high in lead. Any animal suspected or confirmed with having lead poisoning should not be consumed nor any of the eggs they produce should be consumed as this may lead to lead poisoning in humans.
Please reply and share this thread as I believe the problem of lead in these items is more widespread than anyone suspects and if so it must be stopped for the safety of our animals and our food supply. If you have any questions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to answer them.

 

[jher77]

Galvanized steel is bascially steel coated with zinc. Shouldn't be any lead that I'm aware of. If a joint is soldered, then it could have been soldered with a silver/lead solder which is alot cheaper than a silver solder.

Lead is similar to calcium. So much so that if you ingest lead, it goes into your bones because your body thinks it is calcium. Most of the calcum is in the eggshell so if a hen ingests lead it would mostly go into their bones and the eggshell. Worser for the chicken than it is for you since you don't eat eggshells and the chickens aren't eating lead sinkers out of your tackle box.

 

[CA2PTChickenChick]

It is true there should be no lead in galvanized steel. However there have been several instances of these products testing positive for lead. I want to understand how widespread the issue is. If you have a galvanized steel feeder or waterer, I do recommend testing it for lead.

Galvanized steel is bascially steel coated with zinc. Shouldn't be any lead that I'm aware of. If a joint is soldered, then it could have been soldered with a silver/lead solder which is alot cheaper than a silver solder.

Lead is similar to calcium. So much so that if you ingest lead, it goes into your bones because your body thinks it is calcium. Most of the calcum is in the eggshell so if a hen ingests lead it would mostly go into their bones and the eggshell. Worser for the chicken than it is for you since you don't eat eggshells and the chickens aren't eating lead sinkers out of your tackle box.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I did a bunch of testing about fifteen years ago on granite countertops. First for radiation, then we did radon gas studies, then after an uranium geologist on the team pointed out that most of the other heavy metals are present with uranium we started looking at heavy metals and lead. So I know a bit about the topic.

But first are the seams soldered with lead solder? Usually not, it sticks poorly to galvanized unless you strip the galvanized coating with muratic acid that has been modified by soaking some galvanized scrap in it until it stops bubbling. But it strips the galvanized, you would know it was gone from across the room. The most common solder for galvanized is zinc/tin solder which is used for plumbing as it is lead free. A good seam well crimped is waterproof and air tight, why solder it ? If you want to challenge that go throw out all your canned food before you post a reply.

Far more likely is a sealer of some type, perhaps a coating to cover the cut edges of the galvanized sheet.

As for galvanized sheet goods, no lead is used in the production at all. Plain old carbon steel dipped in a tin/zinc bath, mostly zinc. Zinc itself might have a half of a percent of lead left over from processing, it is usually found in the same ore. But think about it, a hundred pounds of zinc might have no lead or it might have a half pound of lead. Probably more rat turds in your flour than lead in zinc coating.

Then look at the researched used to panic the public into replacing galvanized pipe, "in some cases" there were >100 micro grams per liter. What is a micro gram? One millionth of a gram, 100 micro grams would be 10,000th of a gram . the safe level for lead in water, at least if more than 10% of the samples show this amount during a water test, is 15 parts per billion which is express scientifically as 1.5e-8 = 1.5 x 10-8 = or a real world decimal of 0.000000015 of a gram per liter. But "in some cases" isn't adequate, it would have to be in more than 10% of the cases to meet the unsafe levels.

Bottom line, research on galvanized water pipes that are pre 2008 with the statement of "in some cases" isn't adequate to panic over. Even there they caution that copper pipes added upstream of the galvanized pipes are an issue. That is because of the bio availability of heave metals is a very complex issue. In this case the copper pipes might chemically increase the lead in the water. Under normal circumstances metals oxidize, which is why we used zinc coating on steel, it oxidizes readily and forms a protective coating that prevents further oxidation of the zinc or steel.

BTW, those canned goods that you hopefully won't throw out? Some acidic foods like pineapple are coated in zinc, not tin. The FDA has approved zinc for use in food preparation lines. Just don't use acidic cleaners which mess up the zinc coating.

So you likely don't have acidic water nor are you using acidic toilet bowl cleaner to clean out your water can. It is perfectly safe, the zinc oxide won't show up and if it did less than a half percent might be lead if there is any at all the zinc, and short of an acid it will not be bio available anyway. Same with granite countertops, loaded with massive levels of lead and uranium, cadmium, and ever other toxic heavy metal. Water isn't likely to make the heavy metals bio available but cleaners will so clean your countertop with water only. And for fun, swipe a lead test kit from Home Depot across your countertop.