To help combat anemia, how much iron is too much iron? (-Did I help kill my rooster friend?....)

[Ghost]

-For a shorter version, read the "TL;DR" in red, below ⬇...

On the 1st of December, 2021, we lost a beloved rooster friend of ours, Jack (~a 3.5yo Red Orpington, 3-4kg). For probably at least 2.5 months before his death, he had (mostly secretly) been battling little swarms of parasitic mites. The mites on his body were only fully eliminated about 1 to 1.5 weeks before his death by carefully spraying his skin with a very diluted, 'natural', mite-deterring oil-mixture ("Non-Mite" by "Prestivet") daily, as well as a permethrin-based spray occasionally ("Bio Kill" by "bioveta").

On November 10th, when he almost passed-out completely after being held at an angle, it became very clear his situation was dire. He was weak, tired, and it seemed he had anemia from the mites. On that day, we went to purchase an iron-supplement ("Iron Vital Liquid" by "Livsane"), and at the recommendation of a vet (over the phone), we bought and began feeding him a vitamin complex for animals as well ("VeyFo MULTI-C-Mulgat"). -The vet told us that an iron supplement 'would not be enough'.

Well, due to the fear around giving birds iron supplementation, I was really cautious at first. I gave Jack only about 1.5mg of iron per day, for ~5 days. Then, based on the info. from this post (-comment #17 by "M@M@2four"), which recommended using a product called "Red Cell", I learned that radically upping the dose to 10mg of iron a day (-5mg twice a day) would be safe, -but, as is quoted, "for about 5-7 days". Well, unfortunately(?) I went well-beyond that, casually assuming all was still okay because he was a large bird, and very anemic. -I probably gave him this amount (5mg x2) for 12-13 days. At that point, I began suspecting it might be too much, and gradually lowered the amount over the last 5 days of his life, with the intention of returning to 1.5mg daily.

Over the course of the 3 weeks he was receiving these vitamins and iron, he gradually improved. However, we know it's sometimes hard to tell just how bad a chicken's sickness really is. So, you might say he got better (-less lethargic, a bit brighter wattles/comb-) for the first two weeks, then stagnated during his last...

Despite the success of eliminating all the mites from his body (as far as we could tell), on Dec. 1st, he suddenly died midday. I found him inside the coop, collapsed near the food-trough. His face was only perhaps a bit darker than usual. .... -Did he die of choking and was simply too weak to expel the debris? -Did his heart finally give-out? I just don't know... And unfortunately I did not check his windpipe before burying him..... (-I did try poor CPR on him, and it seemed like only his crop(!) would fill with air, and then deflate. -But my technique was horrible, and I blew into the beak, as opposed to through the nostrils as I've read is recommended.(?))

-TL;DR: 3-4kg rooster suddenly died after ~2 months of having mites (-which were eliminated 1-1.5w before his death), and after 3 weeks of receiving vitamin and iron supplementation @ 5mg iron twice daily for 12-13 days, and then less in the few days preceding his death. (-Read questions below: )

So, my questions to anyone knowledgeable are:

• To help combat mite-induced anemia in a chicken, how much supplemental iron can/should safely be given, if any?
• What are common signs of iron deficiency or overdose/poisoning?
• Is it possible that I simply gave Jack too much iron, and that is what killed him? (-Again, I've heard all about the dangers of iron. -But he almost certainly lacked it, and was fairly large.)
• And, based on the pictures, could there have been another underlying issue with him?

Thank you so much for any thoughtful replies!
-Ghost


~RIP, Jack.

(-A healthy Jack, from August 19th, 2021: )

 

[Eggcessive]

Very sorry for the loss of your rooster Jack. I don’t really know how much iron would kill a rooster, but I would never give more than in a supplement such as in Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell 2-3 ml daily. Even those are limited to about 5 days. When losing a chicken a poultry vet or state pathologist could do a necropsy and look for what killed it. Most of us here are just backyard chicken owners like yourself. Mites can be deadly to chickens over a long period of time, but he could have had other problems.

 

[Ghost]

Very sorry for the loss of your rooster Jack. I don’t really know how much iron would kill a rooster, but I would never give more than in a supplement such as in Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell 2-3 ml daily. Even those are limited to about 5 days. When losing a chicken a poultry vet or state pathologist could do a necropsy and look for what killed it. Most of us here are just backyard chicken owners like yourself. Mites can be deadly to chickens over a long period of time, but he could have had other problems.

Thank you for the input!

Well, according to info. from Amazon on "Rooster Booster Poultry Cell, 16-Ounce", it contains 400mg(!) of iron per fluid ounce.

1 Fluid Ounce (US) ≈ 29.57344 ml

-So, at "2-3 ml daily", that's:
-> (400mg/29.57344ml)x2 ≈ 27mg
-> (400mg/29.57344ml)x3 ≈ 40.5mg,
-or, ~27-40mg daily!.... -Wow, really? -That seems like a lot of iron for one bird.

Based on this information, I would guess that Jack did not die of iron poisoning.

"Rooster Booster Poultry Cell, 16-Ounce":

 

[Banana01]

Sorry to hear you lost him. It is rare for a rooster to die but it happens, and seemingly for no reason sometimes.

I have a rooster that has black feathers and i once shined a flashlight on him at night, and i saw hundreds of thousands of tiny white specs, and when i looked closer they were all moving. But i never had to treat him, i guess he should be bathing better.

For you to determine why your rooster died, did you happen to monitor what his droppings were like in the days and weeks before he died? Also how was his crop at night and in the morning, and was it impacted it was or watery.

Anemeia can be treated by feeding him liver or pate. But you would have to be sure there wasnt another blockage going on in his system, from worms for examlple.

 

[Ghost]

For you to determine why your rooster died, did you happen to monitor what his droppings were like in the days and weeks before he died? Also how was his crop at night and in the morning, and was it impacted it was or watery.

Thanks for the reply in general!

Up until a few days (2-5?) before Jack died, I was letting the birds out of their pen pretty much daily, letting them forage and watching them closely. When I was, I managed to check his droppings up-close at least twice. As far as I could tell, nothing was really out of the ordinary. The only occasional thing was that sometimes they seemed too small, as though he wasn't eating enough. -But generally he seemed to be eating just fine, and didn't lose hardly any weight over the time he was sick.

I unfortunately didn't inspect his crop at all during Nov., or after he died, like a total, effing amateur... (-This sad event has really highlighted where I can (vastly) improve as a chicken guardian.....) I did, however, conduct a bit of bad CPR on him, and as I wrote in the main post: "it seemed like only his crop(!) would fill with air". -It really filled-up like a small balloon, and then would deflate out his beak when I brought my mouth away. Anyway, maybe it's just an indicator that his crop wasn't totally full of food/debris/etc.. -A potentially good or bad thing.

(My current hypothesis is that this all was a 'freak accident', relatively, where he choked and was simply too weak to overcome it before passing-out, and then dying... :'[ I wish I would have checked his tracheal-opening before burying him under the icy ground...)