WHAT KIND OF "PEOPLE" FOOD CAN CHICKENS EAT?

[Bear Foot Farm]

Avocados, onions, chocolate, onions, citrus fruits, white potatoes (contains solanine which lowers red blood cell levels. Even boiling them reduces very little of this chemical), and apple seeds.

I see references of bread, pasta, and rice mentioned as being commonly given to birds. Where that may not be toxic to birds, it certainly is of little nutritional value, and too much can certainly block the crop because it isn't easily digested. Where chickens may be omnivores, they are not garbage disposals for what one chooses to throw out. Unless someone prefers to nurse or cull sick birds.

I see this same behavior with people who have overweight dogs. They buy numerous treats and feed them to the dog in addition to giving too much food. They think it is fun, cute, or making up for some guilt, until they see their vet bills.

Each bird would need to consume nothing but raw potato skins all day to get enough to hurt it
I thought you knew something truly POISON

Just because foods contain small amounts of toxins doesn't mean they will actually cause harm in the small amounts normally consumed by healthy birds

Nothing after the first sentence has anything to do with toxic foods

 

[Michael Apple]

Each bird would need to consume nothing but raw potato skins all day to get enough to hurt it
I thought you knew something truly POISON

Just because foods contain small amounts of toxins doesn't mean they will actually cause harm in the small amounts normally consumed by healthy birds

Nothing after the first sentence has anything to do with toxic foods

The list is much longer, but since you are an "educator" on this forum, you should already know about levels of certain chemicals toxic to birds. Believe what you want despite reality. That's not my problem.

 

[hotlantachicken]

I try to stick to the chicken food and give as few treats as possible. A little cracked corn every now and then and a little scratch. However-when it's cold I give my ladies oatmeal every morning and evening right before they go in for the night. So they have something warm in them. They seem to love it.

 

[Michael Apple]

I try to stick to the chicken food and give as few treats as possible. A little cracked corn every now and then and a little scratch. However-when it's cold I give my ladies oatmeal every morning and evening right before they go in for the night. So they have something warm in them. They seem to love it.

That's good. Oats are a great source of protein though high in fiber which can cause diarrhea if the proper ration in feeds isn't balanced. It is nearly identical to soy regarding quality protein, and hull-less, has a range of 12 to 24%, the highest in cereal grains. I would prefer to see oats more common in formulated feed rations to see the difference. Because of it's high fiber content, it isn't supposed to compose of more than 1/3 of the scratch grain. The hulls shouldn't be totally discarded either, since the results of experiments at Western Washington Experiment Station showed that cannibalism-preventing properties of oats is due to the fiber fraction of oat hulls.

When fed as an exclusive grain in the ration, the Iowa Station showed that oats ranked first in poultry feed compared to corn, wheat, or barley. Chicks grew faster and feathered more rapidly.

 

[NYREDS]

That's certainly not true. There are a number of foods, humans eat daily, that are toxic to chickens.

Nonsense

 

[batta]

I've seen before that avocados are bad for them, but the rooster in my avatar eats avocado scraps from the kitchen and avocados on the ground under our tree and seems to find them a treat.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I've seen before that avocados are bad for them, but the rooster in my avatar eats avocado scraps from the kitchen and avocados on the ground under our tree and seems to find them a treat.

I imagine he'd have to consume about a POUND before he had enough to harm him.

People love to list foods that may CONTAIN "toxins", but they rarely consider the AMOUNTS needed to actually produce harmful effects.
Realism ruins the dramatic effects

 

[NYREDS]

Curiously enough, they stay healthy and happy. Lucky for me, they can't read those lists.

I love it!
Unfortunately there are people who read lists & apparently are of the belief that everything on a list must be true. For the brief half century in which I've raised thousands of chickens I've routinely thrown them all our leftovers & scraps. Never had one die as a result & I don't remember the last time I had a sick chicken. My birds grow well, lay well & look good enough to win pretty regularly in shows. Somehow I think my 50+ years of experience with thousands of birds trumps an internet list.
Apple seeds do contain a compound tha breaks down into cyanide which is a poison but I don't know anyone who feeds buckets full of apple seeds. if a chicken was to pick all the seeds out of an apple it wouldn't be nearly enough cyanide to be a problem. I've read that Avocado seeds are poisonous but don't know how a chicken would eat one? I know there's been Avocado in my "chicken bowl" on many occasions& it hasn't harmed the birds that I'm aware of. In another thread here someone from california posted that they have an Avocado tree in their yard & their chickens routinely eat the fallen fruit with no ill effect. Potatoes? If potatoes are so harmful how do people survive? We eat a lot of them.
Sure there are items on that list that wouldn't do as a sole, steady diet for chickens, or people for that matter, but I don't think anyone plans to raise their birds on chocolate.
For my money you can feed your chickens whatever you want & follow any list you choose but experience & common sense continue to work for me.

 

[Michael Apple]

I imagine he'd have to consume about a POUND before he had enough to harm him.

People love to list foods that may CONTAIN "toxins", but they rarely consider the AMOUNTS needed to actually produce harmful effects.
Realism ruins the dramatic effects

Well, since you seem to know more than the contributors to the Merck Veterinary Manual, explain this. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: "Ingestion of avocado has been associated with myocardial necrosis in mammals and birds. Cattle, goats, horses, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, sheep, budgerigars, canaries, cockatiels, ostriches, chickens, turkeys, and fish are susceptible. Ingestion of fruit, leaves, stems, and seeds of avocado has been associated with toxicosis in animals; however leaves are the most toxic part."

Here's the link for those who want to see some other foods, plants, chemicals, that are toxic: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/toxicology/food_hazards/avocado.html

For the record, the factual basis of the Merck Veterinary Manual existed long before the internet.

Perhaps that's all just too dramatic for some people. The rest will use good sense.

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

Sorry to rain on your parade Michael, but that very link seems to suggest that avocados aren't necessarily so toxic to chickens versus other animals: "while chickens and turkeys appear more resistant." And did you see the amounts necessary to be toxic to sheep?

Lets get real - scraps of any of these foods are simply not a toxicity concern.

But rumor has it that reading too many internet lists causes a severe loss of common sense in 67.4% of subjects tested.