Information on the effect of naturally occurring mycotoxins in animals is limited, especially the impact of multiple toxin contamination on animals. Alltech has put in place a Global Mycotoxin Management team, supported by two programs (37+ and MIKO) to better understand and identify the underlying risks to animals fed with feedstuffs containing multiple mycotoxins. From analyzing over 3300 samples form around the world we found that most samples contained between 5 and 11 mycotoxins.
In a meta-analysis on the productive interactions of mycotoxins in broilers done by Andretta et al. (published in 2011 Poultry Science:90:1934-1940) they combined the information from 98 studies and estimated that the effect of mycotoxins in broiler was as follows: feed intake was reduced by 12% and body weight gain by 14% compared to a negative control group.
The problem is that the variation can be quite dramatic depending on which toxins are present and their levels. And it becomes difficult to make broad recommendations. It comes down to trying to determine your risk.
Mwangi, you are welcome to contact me through the Alltech website as I am a member of the Global Mycotoxin Management team and I can put you in touch with a local representative in Kenya.
Evelynn, this post is probably too late since your chicks would be 3-4 weeks old by now. Hopefully they are fine. I cant comment on the efficacy of the Mycofix, however toxin binders generally protect the animal from the mycotoxins only once it has been eaten. They cannot bind the toxins in the feed while in storage, only once the bird has eaten the feed and it has gone into solution the binder starts to attach to the toxins.In future to prevent molds form growing and producing toxins you can maybe use a organic acid like propionic acid. This will reduce the pH and prevent/reduce molds from growing while in storage. Other things that will help in the absence of a binder is increasing the protein level of the feed, increase the vitamin A/E levels, maybe using a enzyme to improve the digestibility. But I suspect that you would have the same problem with mixing these products in.