Acorns. Safe or Toxic?

[ChicketySplit]

Y

I love that books! green cover? I wish my chooks liked the Acorns! Picky pampered birds!

Yup, green cover...getting ready to harvest a bunch of black walnuts too, which I remember Gibbons loved, and see if my critters might help with husking. Might be too much to ask, but fun to try!

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I have 3 oaks in my yard, and my chickens go crazy for the acorns. They scratch the leaf litter and pick every one of them they can find.

 

[ChicketySplit]

Nice! Yup, mine are free-range opportunists who have a nice fenced-in yard that they promptly hop over ever morning to forage. Thankfully, I have a five-acre buffer so they don't trespass onto neighbors' property too often. Maybe more space encourages them to try (and relish) different foods, like acorns! My birds also like the wild grass seeds in the areas that I haven't gotten around to weed eating yet.

I have 3 oaks in my yard, and my chickens go crazy for the acorns. They scratch the leaf litter and pick every one of them they can find.

 

[Titan Farm]

Here is a quote from a study put out by the Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science on the use of acorns in a broiler diet.

(*Note Body Weight Gain = BWG)

"There are limited data in literature regarding
the effects of oak acorn on broilers and poultry
performance. The results of the current experiment
indicated that dietary inclusion of 15% oak acorn
had no adverse effect on BWG. These results are in
agreement with the findings of Kaushal & Singh
(1982), who reported that dietary inclusion of oak
acorn at the rates of 10 and 15% had no detrimental
effects on body weight gain, while 20 and 25% acorn
significantly decreased BWG."

There is also some studies that state that acorns can cause kidney failure in some breeds of cattle.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I was thinking on the tannin leaching bit, were I ever need to process them for flour. I'd put em in the top bowl of my toilets in mesh bags for 2 weeks. No boiling required there!

 

[Arya28]

It's funny you just asked that- we have been gathering TONS of acorns specifically for our chickens for the past couple weeks!

They are super high in nutrition and protein for them, so they can make a very good snack (not the bulk of the diet though). We are getting them to supplement their food in the winter since they won't have grass and plants and stuff.

SOME acorns can be toxic, because they are high in tannins. This is because the tannins are very bitter, which can be upsetting to the stomach. So given raw, it depends. However, they can have the tannins cooked (or soaked or leeched) out, and then they are absolutely not toxic at all.

There are acorns which are derived from red oaks, and there are acorns which are derived from white oaks. The acorns that are from a subspecies of red oaks are very high in tannins, and are very bitter. So they would preferably need to be cooked out.

The acorns from a subspecies of white oak are are not that high in tannins, and are supposed to taste like a hazelnut because they aren't bitter. The animals absolutely love those, and so they will be gone from the forest first!

You should be able to tell the difference fairly easily. The trees that are a subspecies of red oak have leaves that come to a very definite pointy point. The white oak leaves come to a rounded point. Here is a picture for reference:

The animals in the forest will eat both, but they definitely eat the white oak acorns first! So around this time of year, if you go into the woods, the red oak trees will probably have a lot more acorns under them than the white oaks.

So if you want to give them to your chickens without cooking or soaking tannins out, white oak acorns would probably be the way to go. However, the red oak acorns can be just as beneficial and tasty once the tannins are cooked out.

And lots of people do give acorns of both kinds to their chickens without cooking them at all, but I would recommend getting the tannins out first.

So short answer- if you want to give them to your chickens you should look into how to get the tannins out, if you get the red oak acorns.

And you can tell once you've leeched the tannins out, whether you got them or not. Taste one (they are safe for humans), if it tastes very bitter and makes you pucker- they have a lot of tannins in them. If it tastes like a hazelnut, and you don't need to pucker, you've got nothing to worry about.

They definitely won't harm your chickens without tannins in them.

We, just for good measure, are going to leech the the tannins from the white oak acorns too, just because we got both red and white oak acorns and they are all mixed together.

That's what we are doing, we got acorns from both trees and are going to leech the tannins out. Then they should be totally edible for our chickens, and will be a good nutritional snack for them in the winter! It's amazing the food that's growing around us all the time, we just have to learn how to use it!

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

It's funny you just asked that- we have been gathering TONS of acorns specifically for our chickens for the past couple weeks!

They are super high in nutrition and protein for them, so they can make a very good snack (not the bulk of the diet though). We are getting them to supplement their food in the winter since they won't have grass and plants and stuff.

SOME acorns can be toxic, because they are high in tannins. This is because the tannins are very bitter, which can be upsetting to the stomach. So given raw, it depends. However, they can have the tannins cooked (or soaked or leeched) out, and then they are absolutely not toxic at all.

There are acorns which are derived from red oaks, and there are acorns which are derived from white oaks. The acorns that are from a subspecies of red oaks are very high in tannins, and are very bitter. So they would preferably need to be cooked out.

The acorns from a subspecies of white oak are are not that high in tannins, and are supposed to taste like a hazelnut because they aren't bitter. The animals absolutely love those, and so they will be gone from the forest first!

You should be able to tell the difference fairly easily. The trees that are a subspecies of red oak have leaves that come to a very definite pointy point. The white oak leaves come to a rounded point. Here is a picture for reference:
View attachment 1163089
The animals in the forest will eat both, but they definitely eat the white oak acorns first! So around this time of year, if you go into the woods, the red oak trees will probably have a lot more acorns under them than the white oaks.

So if you want to give them to your chickens without cooking or soaking tannins out, white oak acorns would probably be the way to go. However, the red oak acorns can be just as beneficial and tasty once the tannins are cooked out.

And lots of people do give acorns of both kinds to their chickens without cooking them at all, but I would recommend getting the tannins out first.

So short answer- if you want to give them to your chickens you should look into how to get the tannins out, if you get the red oak acorns.

And you can tell once you've leeched the tannins out, whether you got them or not. Taste one (they are safe for humans), if it tastes very bitter and makes you pucker- they have a lot of tannins in them. If it tastes like a hazelnut, and you don't need to pucker, you've got nothing to worry about.

They definitely won't harm your chickens without tannins in them.

We, just for good measure, are going to leech the the tannins from the white oak acorns too, just because we got both red and white oak acorns and they are all mixed together.

That's what we are doing, we got acorns from both trees and are going to leech the tannins out. Then they should be totally edible for our chickens, and will be a good nutritional snack for them in the winter! It's amazing the food that's growing around us all the time, we just have to learn how to use it!

How can I soak/cook the toxins out? We have SO many trees it's basically impossible to determine which ones have more or less tannins! I would love to learn to soak or cook them to remove the toxicity, because, I think my girls would like them!

 

[Titan Farm]

They are super high in nutrition and protein for them, so they can make a very good

There not that high in digestible proteins at all..

The studies I have read state that although acorns contain 14 different amino acids they are low in total digestible proteins. The amounts ranged from 2.75 and 8.44 percent digestible proteins.

 

[Roscoe2k2]

I was directed to this thread..and got a lot of information about the acorns....thanks yall

 

[Beer can]

'Tis the season for acorns! I have an oak tree over the chicken yard, and they love it when I crack 'em open for the chooks to get a delicious treat, and none have keeled over yet! BUT, that is how I view this manna from heaven - as a treat. After seeing my dog munch on these acorns (She loves anything g tree-based: sticks, bark, and apparently acorns too!), I read up on these oak nuts, and discovered that some are less tannic than others. So what did I do? I opened one up and tasted it.

Surprisingly, it was not as tannic & mouth-puckering as expected! Did the same thing this year before testing the acorns on my chickens.....Maybe I have more mellow oaks here in N.W. Arkansas?

There is a great book by Euell Gibbons (sp?) named "Stalking the Wild Asparagus", where he expounds on the virtues of, and processing acorns. Even though it is an old book, maybe 1950's or 60's, it does have a more modern method of removing much of the tannins if needed. Seems like he talked about the old N. American Indian ways of removing the tannins too. Instead of leaching them in a stream, he would boil his, pour off the tannic water, then maybe boil again, then dry. I also recall that he did the "taste test" which let him know how much (or little) tannins we're in the nuts, thus, how many times (if any) he would have to process them. Dang, now I'll have to find that book.

Anyhoo, I checked the protein to carb ratio & these are high enough in protein to give my birds in case my feed supply is interrupted. For now, it's a treat. So I have been smashing acorns for them, and they LOVE it, with no adverse effects.

It's funny you just asked that- we have been gathering TONS of acorns specifically for our chickens for the past couple weeks!

They are super high in nutrition and protein for them, so they can make a very good snack (not the bulk of the diet though). We are getting them to supplement their food in the winter since they won't have grass and plants and stuff.

SOME acorns can be toxic, because they are high in tannins. This is because the tannins are very bitter, which can be upsetting to the stomach. So given raw, it depends. However, they can have the tannins cooked (or soaked or leeched) out, and then they are absolutely not toxic at all.

There are acorns which are derived from red oaks, and there are acorns which are derived from white oaks. The acorns that are from a subspecies of red oaks are very high in tannins, and are very bitter. So they would preferably need to be cooked out.

The acorns from a subspecies of white oak are are not that high in tannins, and are supposed to taste like a hazelnut because they aren't bitter. The animals absolutely love those, and so they will be gone from the forest first!

You should be able to tell the difference fairly easily. The trees that are a subspecies of red oak have leaves that come to a very definite pointy point. The white oak leaves come to a rounded point. Here is a picture for reference:
View attachment 1163089
The animals in the forest will eat both, but they definitely eat the white oak acorns first! So around this time of year, if you go into the woods, the red oak trees will probably have a lot more acorns under them than the white oaks.

So if you want to give them to your chickens without cooking or soaking tannins out, white oak acorns would probably be the way to go. However, the red oak acorns can be just as beneficial and tasty once the tannins are cooked out.

And lots of people do give acorns of both kinds to their chickens without cooking them at all, but I would recommend getting the tannins out first.

So short answer- if you want to give them to your chickens you should look into how to get the tannins out, if you get the red oak acorns.

And you can tell once you've leeched the tannins out, whether you got them or not. Taste one (they are safe for humans), if it tastes very bitter and makes you pucker- they have a lot of tannins in them. If it tastes like a hazelnut, and you don't need to pucker, you've got nothing to worry about.

They definitely won't harm your chickens without tannins in them.

We, just for good measure, are going to leech the the tannins from the white oak acorns too, just because we got both red and white oak acorns and they are all mixed together.

That's what we are doing, we got acorns from both trees and are going to leech the tannins out. Then they should be totally edible for our chickens, and will be a good nutritional snack for them in the winter! It's amazing the food that's growing around us all the time, we just have to learn how to use it!

I was going to say that, we have both here, white and red but mostly red.
While they are not high in protein like other nuts, they are high in fats and carbs, why they are so favored by farmers for fattening up free range hogs. Plus to boot you don't have to do anything to prepare them for pigs to eat, they'll sniff them out and gobble them like popcorn.