foods to avoid for chicken health

because I didn't want to hijack KimberlyK's thread on flock blocks with this, thought it would be better to start another one. After we got our chickens we ended up with three different food waste containers (one for chickens food, one for regular compost and one for t-bags and coffee grounds for the blueberry plants for acidic soil maintenance). My mum noticed and said something like "my chooks used to get everything" and I pointed out that there is a reason for separating some things out and why etc. I have this little book called Fresh Eggs Daily by Lisa Steele and it is interesting for alternative ways of treating flock issues with herbs and essential oils etc. I always like to consider alternatives. Also has good practical stuff for simple health of a flock and how to assist chickens with being the best they can be. One page lists foods to avoid and why (she points out that they might not be immediately fatal, but in large amounts they can lead to problems). If you know of other things please say. Maybe you feed your chickens these things and no problems at all. I don't mean to challenge, and if you think something is plain wrong please say why. My interest came about in my mind tonight because I put almost anything in to my mash/scrap bucket and plan to make more flock blocks, what is in the scrap bucket is liable to be included in the cake   but maybe I'll avoid some things if they are known "baddies." Here is Lisa's list:

* apple seeds (trace amounts of cyanide)
* asparagus (can taint the taste of eggs)
* avocado (all parts contain a toxin called persin which has been associated with myocardial necrosis in poultry)
* beans (dry, uncooked beans contain the natural insecticide, hemaglutin, which is toxic to chickens. But soaking and cooking or sprouting the dried beans eliminates the toxin)
* caffeine - coffee, chocolate or t-bags should never be fed to chickens
* citrus - it is thought that an excess of citrus fruits (vit C) reduces calcium absorption and can lead to thin-shelled eggs or even a drop in egg production.
* dairy/yogurt - chickens are not able to digest the milk sugars in dairy which can cause diarrhea
* eggplant - a member of the nightshade family, only feed if completely mature and preferably cooked. the leaves are toxic
* onions - onions contain the substance theosulphate, which destroys red blood cells and can cause jaundice or anemia - she notes that although garlic is in the onion family it contains far less of the toxin and its health benefits outweigh any slight risk of anemia
* potatoes - all parts of white and red potatoes (members of the nightshade family) contain the toxin solanine, which destroys red blood cells and can cause diarrhea and heart failure. solanine is not completely destroyed by cooking and should be avoided. sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory family (not a nightshade) and are perfectly safe
* rhubarb (also nightshade family), potentially toxic leaves and stalks
* tomatoes - green tomatoes and tomato vines and leaves contain solanine. Once ripened though the solanine levels decrease to a minimal level. Only feed very ripe and in moderation.

I find this rather interesting and probably agree with all of it. I don't give my chickens any of the above, except apples. When I have had apples that were peeled and cored for freezing, I gave my chickens the apple skins and the cores. They probably ate the apple seeds, and I don't really care. I think that the small amount, on those occasions would have been very insignificant, so I would not worry personally about that. Just can't go there. Chickens don't eat green tomatoes at my place, have tried, they don't like them. they don't like anything in the nightshade family, particularly peppers and potatoes, so no issue. Tried them on those two and they turn their noses up. Rhubarb, well that is a given, I won't even put leaves in the compost piles. Yes, so this list is pretty bang on in my opinion. Asparagus, wouldn't bother, we eat all of any that we get. The yogurt, don't do that, too expensive, but do wonder about that one. I got whey from a local cheese company, thought that it might be something the liked. Wouldn't touch it. I think they probably in their heart of hearts know what is pretty much good for them or not. I think this year I am going to catch grasshoppers, freeze them and use that for winter treats      . Could do with a whole lot less of those suckers around here. I laugh when I see the chooks when they are outside running free as the wind in summertime and I know that they are running after the little jumpers, that makes me smile. Oh summertime, I feel it in my bones, it is just around that corner. (how many days now til the solstice, not long ) have a most beautiful day, CynthiaM.

yeah, the rhubarb has its own special compost area where I don't expect to ever grow things to eat. I find myself thinking that chickens will naturally avoid eating the foods that are not healthy for them, given enough choice especially. the amount of lemon halves that got tossed in their pen before I heard about citrus being a no-no that went untouched, and onion peels etc. just laying about. guess I should let them tell me what is not palatable for them. sometimes I think as a human I get a little arrogant    - think I know what is best. just need to be more observant. the birds that fly for the first time on their migratory path and there is no mother to tell them, and yet they know what to eat on a foreign land? that has to be the proof in the pudding. they know, as you say "in their heart of hearts".

you might be on to something there with the grasshoppers. we had an abundance of them here last summer and the rotters made lace out of my cabbages outer leaves.    I wonder if they are potential carriers for (whisper it, almost a cuss word nowadays) gapeworm?

I like the idea of feeding those high protein meal worms. might get to making a farm some time.

yeah, not counting down sleeps to Christmas, we are all about the solstice!!

I have to say that I basically let the chickens work this out for themselves. I don't bother giving them citrus or onions, it just makes a mess and they don't touch them. Other than that I just give them the entire contents of the compost pail. I think the occasional asparagus end or apple seed won't kill them.

A lot of this stuff is in the category of "a little bit is fine, too much is not good."

Just like the old "chocolate will kill a dog" thing - if you actually research how much chocolate it takes to kill a dog, you won't worry about the dog cleaning up some crumbs of chocolate cake off the floor any more.

I knew that Authentic because our dogs always found more chocolate eggs than we did at Easter and they all lived to great old age.

I have to say I give my chickens almost anything.  That said, they have a very large run and whatever they don't eat becomes part of the compost pile which we then add to the garden or just smooth it out and plant something else there... the sunflowers LOVED whatever the chickens left last year!!   They eat what they want and leave the rest... I think they intrinsically know what is good for them and will eat "properly" given the choice.

Just a note - Rhubarb is not in the nightshade family (Solanaceae, which does contains tomatoes and potatoes), but rather the family Polygonaceae [knotweeds and others]).

I agree that the chooks figure it out for themselves pretty well, and don't bother too much.

ipf wrote:Just a note - Rhubarb is not in the nightshade family (Solanaceae, which does contains tomatoes and potatoes), but rather the family Polygonaceae [knotweeds and others]).
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I love these little tidbits of learnin', thank you for that ipf, just nice to hear things. How interesting all the different families in the world, love that too. Yes, is rhubarb even a fruit, or is a vegetable or is it just a rhubarb. My rhubarb patch is getting better and better each year. I wasn't sure it was going to make it from the move from the coast, but the past two years has proven wrong, just like my raspberries, which took two years to recover. Got a nice patch goin' for this year. Chickens love raspberries, red I guess, and they probably just taste, well, good. I need to get on a search to learn more about which vegetables are in which family. I always thought that the word "nightshade" was a beautiful word, and conjured up some pretty calming images in my mind's eye, just mind images, just as the word "destiny" and some other really neat words make me just feel good. Nightshade is among that. Wonder why they are called nightshade, must be some folklore or something behind that terminology. Anyways, just pretty sounding and I like it. Japanese knotwood is beautiful, but so invasive. The honeybees absolutely adore the Japanese knotweed when the incredibly fragrant flowers are in full bloom, lots of nectar in those flowers, probably pollen too. Oh dear, off in memory to my life amongst the bees...beautiful, bees loves some flowers in the polygonaceae family too. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

whoops!! I feel bad, I miss-quoted the book. Indeed she does not say that rhubarb is in the nightshade family. Thank you very much for pointing that out ipf.  

Hey Cindi I also love the amazing rhubarb   . I transplanted some to the garden and have been burying all sorts of bones and such near it because I heard it loves the grunty food and mostly I am going by a friend who lives in the States' experience. He had a sheep that had left its body (not sure why) and had to do something with the carcase. He dug a humungous hole at the far corner of his garden and buried it, planted a rhubarb on top of it and that plant grew like it was from some far away land where everything is big and giants walk. I canned some once while visiting and seriously, the stalks were nearly as thick as my wrist and leaves that seemed several feet across. Just amazing, legendary in my mind. I also love rhubarb cause it seems to love living in this climate and I just never stop marveling at what does that in the plant world. Nature just blows me away. I think this comes from spending most of my life in a sub tropical climate and then moving to a place like this where the seasons are so clear and extreme, when spring comes everything gets its game on like it is being fed steroids - gets the job done and relaxes for the next time.

Ya, "nightshade" - sounds like a glade where elves walk in moonlight.

You know, I agree with most of this. Except the dairy. I give my chickens dairy all the time! I have cows and they get any left over yogurt, milk, or anything except whey. They dont like it. But the pigs LOVE it. I put dairy in there and they will go for that before anything else. I have never seen any diarrhea from it either. I also notice that if you give say dairy rather then say corn, the fat that forms on the birds will be white and not yellow. I have around 100 birds. I give them about three gallons total a week.

that is very interesting pfarms. After giving anti's to some of the chickens I gave them some yoghurt and some probiotics too. Don't remember any squitty poop. I do have one chook who has a messy butt all the time and just can't figure out why. She is the only one, gets all the same food as everyone else. I saw once this can be from worms but maybe it also comes down to individuals - like people, some people have allergies and some don't sort of thing. Some races are better at digesting fats and sugars and some aren't sort of thing - genetic make up. Just inside thoughts flowing on to the screen here.

Maybe. If it is store bought, I can see why it could cause diarrhea though. One of my daughters gets diarrhea badly every time she drinks homogenized milk. Pasteurized is ok, just not homogenized. That breaks up the fats so they dont separate, maybe it also makes them harder to digest. Our farm cats will eat/drink milk from our cows that is pasteurized, yet tries to bury store bought milk. So the thought on the digestibility of fats may also have something to do with that.

As for my birds, I have bourbon and bronze turkeys, khaki campbell ducks, jersey giant chickens, barred rocks, rhode island reds, buff orpington, black copper marans, and a few crosses (rir / br). They all get the milk and milk products and none of them have issues.

the chook I have who has the squitty butt is a barred rock, we call her Fattybum actually but it is nothing to do with her poop, just the size of that lovely fluffy part - much bigger than the other barred rock's butt. I have not been giving them any milk products actually but the milk we drink is straight from a cow so it would not have been treated at all, anything that went in to the scrap bucket would be from that source. Maybe she has worms. I wormed them a couple months ago for roundworm with flubenvet - big trails on here for that topic and would have covered other worms also. Maybe she needs another dose :-(. Not keen to do that again so soon.

Ooo you have turkeys. I am getting inspired to raise some for the freezer. When I look at the store bought ones I worry about all the hormones and treatment of them etc. I might put up another post for which are the best turkeys to raise for eating. later.

Turkeys are great! Tricky to raise to about 8 weeks and then hard as nails. They can be great characters too! And always really delicious.

I have used ivermec for deworming my birds with great success.  And you can treat individual birds with that.  

As for turkeys for meat, you ask 20 people, you will get 20 answers LOL! My favorite are crosses. I cross my bronze hens with my bourbon toms. Also have a slate hen I put a bronze tom over. Both make great faster growing big birds. Hybrid vigor thing. People think I am nuts cause I still have toms and hens that are four years old because they are just great characters.

I too fall into the let them sort it out category. I give my chooks everything.

Once you go farm raised or should I say home raised turkey you can't go back   

Ooh, ya, farm raised turkeys are sooooo yummy! We raise a few royal palms, and we have a ridley bronze tom that we will cross with our RP hens in the spring to get some slightly bigger freezer birds. Message me in the spring if you are interested!! I'm in Kelowna.

haven't made that post about turkeys yet   . It might be the same as which meat chickens are the best to raise. Got to check in with my "sponsor" (who was it who said they had a highland cow sponsor?? - I like that   ). So far I want pigs like islandgal99, call ducks like IzzyD, pretty much allllll of Tara's chickens (just playing Tara), KathyS's RCRIR's, Miry's Dominiques . . . I am sure I've left some out. I could possibly make turkeys near the top of the list because they would be for eating. Basically I need to win lotto.