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Vitamin E
 Continuing our look at vitamins in poultry diets, this month it is the turn of Vitamin E. As an antioxidant vitamin E mops up harmful free radicals which are produced by everyday bodily functions and are increased during times of stress.
Vitamin E is essential for correct nerve and muscle function and is also vital to breeding stock to ensure good hatchability of their eggs. It forms part of the body’s cellular respiratory enzyme system and is also involved with DNA synthesis within the cell. Feeding a well-balanced poultry feed will ensure that birds receive correct levels for health and performance.
Deficiency of vitamin E can cause early embryo death, a disease of the nervous system in chicks, commonly known as ‘crazy chick disease’, heart disease and nutritional muscular dystrophy, where fluid accumulates under the skin, usually on the breast and under the wings. ‘Crazy chick disease’ can affect chicks between two and four weeks of age; chicks become uncoordinated and unsteady on their feet; their heads and necks are pulled in backwards and paralysis and death often occur.
Vitamin E can be easily destroyed by bad storage, particularly over-heating, so care should be taken not to place feed under brooders where the higher temperatures may reduce the vitamin E content of the diet.
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