Feeding Chickens fruit

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speckles

speckles

In the Brooder
10 Years
Sep 26, 2009
30
0
22
Petersburg Alaska
Hi,

Is it safe to feed chickens fruit? I have heard that if you feed them fruit they will stop laying for up to 2 weeks. Can somebody tell me if this is true..

Also is it ok to use a red light on adult birds for a couple of hours a day?

Any help would be great!!

Thanks
Cheryl
 
Last edited:
I just now feed my chickens oranges and lemons. I'm not getting many eggs right now anyway. If they quit laying altogether, I'll let you know.
tongue.png
 
As much as they like fruit, I think they can load up on it and not get enough protein to produce their eggs.

I don't have citrus trees and don't know what the admonition is on feeding citrus but the hens can sure eat fallen peaches like there's no tomorrow.

A peach is about 10% sugar and about 1% protein. That's a little short of what a laying hen needs as a major part of her diet.

Steve
 
Citrus fruit is very acidic and is not recommend for feeding chickens. It lowers the calcium and produce thin shelled eggs or no eggs at all winter or summer it's not good for them. Most other fruits are good for them and they will love them.
It doesn't matter what other people feed their chickens. It's what you feed your chickens that is important.
Here is just one of many articles I found searching Google supporting that argument.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-pick-treats-for-chickens.html

Just some friendly, knowledgeable advise.
wink.png
 
Last edited:
I give mine fruit off and on. Gave them a cantaloupe the other day and they loooooved it. They still pick at the poor little empty rind......

I did cut open a watermelon today that was WAY overripe. ABout half of the inside is mush. Is this still good to give them? I assume it is.....it doesn't smell bad or anything, just mushy.......
 
I've heard citrus fruit is bad for chickens but could never find why. Of course I didn't look very hard either. My girls get fruit almost daily during the summer and I haven't noticed any decline in eggs. The shells are definitely not thin either. I have head that citric acid does reduce the protein absorption in humans, but that is mainly with grapefruit which is extremely high in citric acid.
 

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