High Levels of Antibiotics and White Feathers in Poults

Abstract

The experiment reported herein was prompted by a field observation in which case a flock of Broad Breasted Bronze poults being fed a high level of an antibiotic developed a high incidence of white feathers. The breeding flock from which the poults were hatched was affected with sinusitis and the poults were being started on a high level of antibiotic to prevent undue losses from chronic respiratory disease. About 75 percent of several successive hatches, involving several hundred poults each, developed white barring on the flight feathers when fed in this manner.Slinger et al. (1951) found that relatively low levels of antibiotics produced a high incidence of white feathers with diets borderline in lysine content. If high levels of antibiotics produce better growth and feed efficiency than levels usually recommended they might well cause white feathers with diets giving normal feather color in conjunction with normal levels of the …