Suet?

[intownfarm]

Can chickens eat suet? I have a bunch left from winter & wondered if I could give it to my hens as a treat occasionaly.
Thanks

 

[allen wranch]

Suet has a high fat content. I would freeze it and give them a little bit at a time this winter. The fat in suet can also go rancid and you don't want to feed that to the birds.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I wont touch it with a ten foot pole and dont let my birds near the stuff. (sorry...I feel that strongly about it)

 

[allen wranch]

Diana,
Why ? Maybe it is something we all need to know.

 

[dlhunicorn]

hiya Carla

...well...two things mainly (all of which I have posted on extensively over at the ezboardBYC location)...to put it in a nutshell:
rancidity issues (same problem to a lesser extent in dog and cat food) and the type of fat which recent research as causing sudden death by heart attack. I will try to locate the threads (some should still be there) and post them here.

 

[merryreader]

I feed my chickens the prepared seeded bells, for birds. During the winter they get 1 about once a month. If I am going to confine them for a few days I give them a suet bell. They love it, and those kinds don't go rancid. They really don't have time because they gobble it up in a day or so. Merry

 

[bmarshall61]

Well, guess I am an outlaw but my chicks are healthy and happy. I start giving them a bag full of muched grass at about two weeks, just dump it in my 4' X 8' brooder. They eat as much as they want and trample the rest, it makes the brooder smell much better and also packs down nicely. I clean it out about every two weeks, put it on the garden, I now have tomatoes the size of grapefruit, and we can't eat nearly all the fresh squash so the girls get them right out of the garden.

Also, starting at about two weeks, i buy a 50 lbs. bag of cracked corn. About every day or so I cook it a pan full with a glob of pure animal fat, oh my gosh, powered milk, little sugar and water, it fluffs ups and looks delicious. I use to do this for kids FFA broilers and we won 1st. three years in a row. I cut this back as they get older but I still treat them occassionally. I have order a total of 118 chicks this year and I have 111 that are totally fat, healthy and happy. Should be getting eggs by the end of May. They are all heavy breeds, orphans, cochins, siver lace, etc.