Anyone tried feeding acorns?

[Oblio13]

Our woods produce thousands of pounds of them every year, red and white.

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

My chickens love acorns, but they can't crack them open. During acorn season, the ones that fall on the driveway get crushed by the cars. The chickens run around picking out the nut meats!

You might want a more efficient way of cracking them open for feeding, but they will enjoy them.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

White Oak is best. Less tannin which is bitter. They love them. Crush them with cinder blocks.

 

[klf73]

Quote:
warning, stupid question to follow.......how do you know the difference? is that the difference between the green ones and the brown ones? I don't pay attention to what kind of trees are dropping what, there are just too many trees....

 

[sommrluv]

You should put pigs in your woods to naturally raise on those acorns. Famous chefs pay big money for acorn fed pork.

I'm jealous!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

.......how do you know the difference

The leaves on White Oaks are rounded
Red Oak leaves have points

White Oak acorns are much larger than Red Oak​

 

[greathorse]

PIGS!!! PROSCIUTTO!!! Acorn fed pigs are very very good

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
The trees have different leaves and bark. For the acorns themselves, reds have scaly caps and the insides of the shells are fuzzy. Whites have bristly caps, and the insides of the shells are smooth.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Run them through a shredder, hammer mill, or some such so that they are broken up and the birds will scarf them up. The white acorns are the sweetest, but the birds can sort them out themselves.

Whole acorns are tough for a chicken to cope with so mine eat very few. Turkeys on the other hand often eat a lot of the sweeter ones.

.....Alan.

 

[Tropical Chickies]

I never knew chickens liked acorns. I get hundreds of them every year...now they will serve a purpose!