feeding bread to chickens

[craig g]

I have access to hotdog and hamburger buns that is a couple of days old. I was pinching up and feeding 2 or 3 packs a day ( chickens loved it). I also feed laying mess crumbles and scratch grain. I was not getting any eggs and I thought hens should be laying. Someone told me bread was a no no if I wanted eggs. I stopped feeding bread and a couple weeks eggs and more eggs getting 11 or 12 a day now. I asked a old man that has had chickens about it and he said it was none sence. I like getting my eggs and scared to start feeding bread to hens again. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I am still feeding my young chickens that should not be laying bread. My laying hens think I am mistreating them since they get no bread.

 

[Wifezilla]

Bread is basically sugar. 2 slices of bread is the same thing as 1/4 cup of table sugar. While it might not effect egg production, it can effect long term health.

In people, sugar knocks out your immune system for up to 5 hours. Not sure if it has the same effect on chickens, but I wouldn't take the chance.

 

[MissPrissy]

I have access to organic whole grain breads. Always have over the last 20 years. If you look for it you can find it.

I have always supplemented my chickens feed with bread, leftover vegetables, etc. They have always done fine. I have always gotten an egg a day or every other day.

I do not believe that commercial feed is the only thing that keeps a chicken healthy and creates good eggs or keeps the hens laying daily.

If you are someone that practices sustainable living you would not even consider buying commercial feed for your hens. They would forage and live on what they can scavage.

If the chickens only diet is bread yes, you're gonna have problems. If your chickens are getting a wide and varied diet - including meat - you won't see much change in them.

One thing people forget - on both sides of the fence - is we raise our chickens for different reasons. Some people raise their chickens for pets and pamper them and worry over what they eat. Some people raise chickens to serve a purpose other than a pet. I am one of the later catagory. My chickens have a job. I don't feed them to benefit them with a nice old age. I feed them to best benefit my table. When my hens are spent they go into the freezer. I have no intentions of serving a hen to my family that had sustained 90% of its life on a commercial feed. Yuck. Over time the meat of that chicken will have a taste to it if you are familair enough to note it that is distinctly chicken feed. A wide and vaired diet is best for man and animal.

 

[Wifezilla]

Q: Do you know why they "fortify" bread?

A: Because there are not enough nutrients for it to be considered 'food'.

As for people saying their chickens love bread. Well duh. It's like CRACK!
"Science is verifying what many overeaters have suspected for a long time: sugar can be addictive.

In fact, the sweetener seems to prompt the same chemical changes in the brain seen in people who abuse drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
Related News

The findings were to be presented Wednesday at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology's annual meeting, in Nashville.

"Our evidence from an animal model suggests that bingeing on sugar can act in the brain in ways very similar to drugs of abuse," lead researcher Bart Hoebel, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, said during a Dec. 4 teleconference."
http://health.usnews.com/articles/h...10/study-suggests-sugar-may-be-addictive.html​

 

[skand]

It's a treat and both you and the birds like it when you do it, so do it! Stop mistreating those sweet babies!! hehehe

 

[UrbanChickenMama]

How many chickens do you have?

My gut reaction that you should treat anything other than the laying crumbles/pellets/whatever as a treat and that it should be given minimally. 2-3 packs sounds like A LOT!

I give my girls a variety of treats, but they are just that, treats. They get a little bit in the morning when I first let them out, maybe something in the afternoon, and then something to round them up into the their pen in the evening.

I'm sure they could get a fairly unbalanced diet by getting too much of any one thing...

 

[gritsar]

I agree with UrbanChickenMama. If you throw the balance of their nutrients off too much, they can stop laying as a result.
Mine adore bread, but I limit them to 3 slices split between 18 chickens every other day.

 

[chickenma]

I feed bread to my chickens and there is no different in laying eggs.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
It's not giving bread that stops the laying, it's giving them anything in excess that you have to watch out for.

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

I think maybe it's the amount of bread that matters. If they're eating so much bread they're not eating their layer ration that's a problem. If you're feeding them just enough to serve as a treat, then that's okay. Everything in moderation.