Risks of Mixing Human Medicines into Bird Feed

Providing the right feed is one of the top concerns for bird breeders, especially those raising domestic birds. Subsidized feed is insufficient, so breeders import what they need with great difficulty. Finally, some of them turned to custom feed mixes they worked hard to formulate to ensure their birds get the most out of their diet. Unfortunately, however, they lacked wisdom when they relied solely on trial and error and personal experience, disregarding scientific knowledge. Some even added medications to bird and poultry feed without knowing their effects. On the other hand, some complain about the General Authority for Agriculture and Fisheries’ policy regarding the distribution of poultry farming vouchers. In their view, these are limited and insufficient for a comprehensive project, and they also pose a danger to the flock because authorizing slaughterhouses near the farm risks spreading diseases that threaten not only birds but humans as well.

To begin with, Bo Rashid, a breeder passionate about experimentation to achieve the best results in poultry farming, says: "Feed mixtures vary depending on the goal—the fattening mixture is different from the egg-laying mixture, which is different from the mixture designed to boost immunity against diseases." He adds that some breeders use feed intended for camels and cows and add popular human medications to it, and experience has proven these to be effective mixtures.

We ask him: “Aren’t you risking your halal status when you add medicines to the feed given to the birds?” He replies: “There is no danger or risk, because these are tried-and-tested mixtures advertised online under the names of the people who invented them.”

Bourashid surprises us by revealing that these mixtures are bought and sold at auctions among breeders during certain seasons and have become very popular due to the reputation they have gained.

One of the leading experts in the field of birds is Engineer Muhammad Al-Fraih, whom we tried to contact but found to be in Turkey attending a conference on chicken slaughterhouses (Al-Qabas had also met him at an international exhibition in Bangkok a few months ago regarding chicken farming supplies). Al-Fraih warned us about feed mixtures not monitored by the Ministries of Health, Commerce, and the Municipality: “Adding medications, especially those intended for humans, is dangerous—particularly if they are antibiotics—because their residues remain in the meat and eggs of egg-laying chicken farms. In general, the whole principle is fundamentally flawed.”

We asked him: “But they say there are successful mixtures?” He replied: “As long as there are drugs, the danger exists for animals or birds, and their effects on humans will extend from them.” Medications given to poultry should be based on a veterinarian’s consultation for specific purposes and for a specific period, and we must ensure that the chickens are free of their residues for a certain period before slaughter.

The conference, held in a city near Istanbul, ran from last Saturday through Tuesday. According to Al-Fraih, it brings together specialists and consultants in the poultry slaughterhouse industry from some 40 countries to discuss all matters related to poultry—from veterinary care and weights to slaughter and cutting methods. Al-Fraih adds: Feed additives are a modern industry, and it is important to bring the equipment used for this into the country. He noted that among the modern machines he saw during his visit to a state-of-the-art Turkish slaughterhouse was a machine into which the slaughtered chicken is fed, where it is cut into 20 distinct pieces, each packaged separately. Commenting on Kuwait’s slaughterhouses, he said: Here you find dozens of employees in the slaughterhouse, but a single machine operates with precision and order, and a single supervisor oversees the cutting, packaging, and storage.

We ask him whether the feed vouchers and poultry vouchers distributed by the Agriculture Authority are sufficient or not. He says: The distribution of vouchers must take into account the integration of that industry, especially poultry, and the Authority is making a grave mistake when it allocates small plots because the source of disease will then be spread across six age groups on any small farm, whereas this can be avoided on large farms, so the mortality and disease rates will be high on small farms. Additionally, having a slaughterhouse near the farm is a grave mistake that no one with experience in poultry farming would approve of. May God help the chicken farm owners who received the last eight vouchers.

We ask him: Does the Authority require farm owners to have the slaughterhouse near the farm or adjacent to it? He says: They gave them a license for that, and each permit covers 32,000 square meters. May God help the owners, because once production actually begins, there will be diseases—the space is insufficient, impractical, and a breeding ground for disease.

We ask him what he believes is correct, and he says: The correct approach is that broiler chickens must be grouped by age, entering and exiting only once through farms spread out in a large complex where each farm is at least one kilometer apart—one farm for chicks, another for older birds, and so on—and each age group has its approved feed.

Engineer Al-Fraih explains that among the problems facing poultry farmers in Kuwait is that feed subsidies are very limited, and secondly, there is no support for production companies; they are not given sufficient land for their projects, which essentially pertain to a vital issue such as food security. He points out that this failure is not limited to the Authority alone but also involves the Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce, as well as the Municipality. He concludes by stating that feed contaminated with human medications is a disaster, and talk of successful mixtures containing them is pure ignorance.

Ali Al-Ramadan, one of the most renowned breeders of Qalabi pigeons, condemns the practice of some breeders who create their own mixtures based on personal judgment. He says he relies on major companies with proven mixtures and feeds his birds barley and white corn. Al-Ramadan explains that some racing pigeon breeders tailor specific mixtures for their birds depending on the distances they fly.