Apple trees in the run

[Nyhillbillies]

Hello all! We had planted 3 small apple trees 2 summers ago, then decided this spring to move the chickens into a new coop and run area. Their new large run area now has 2 of the trees in it.
The trees are growing apples for the first time this year! I read that apple seeds can be bad for chickens.
Should I worry about any apples that fall on the ground?!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We routinely throw fall apples to our birds here. I never had a problem.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Short answer - Not a problem at all.

Long answer - Chickens have been grazing under apple trees and all kinds of fruit trees since before they were domesticated. They did not go extinct. Growing up on the farm, one of the favorite places the chickens liked to hang out was the apple orchard. In season they would eat apples that fell but in other seasons they liked to graze or rest under the trees. It helps hide them from hawks. They typically would not really devour an entire apple but they would peck at it and eat some of it.

Practically everything we eat contains a toxin. Not the chickens, what you and I eat. Why don't we get sick? Dosage. We don't eat enough to harm ourselves. One example, white potatoes. French fries, chips, mashed potatoes, however you fix them contains a toxin that can make you sick, but an average human would need to eat about 50 pounds of potatoes at a sitting to eat enough to hurt ourselves. I can't eat that many potatoes in one sitting. Chickens cannot either.

Apple seeds, like many fruit seeds, contain a toxin. Cyanide to be specific. There is enough cyanide in an apple seed to maybe kill a worm small enough to eat into an apple seed. There is not enough cyanide in several apple seeds together to harm anything as big as a chicken, even a bantam or baby. You could probably collect pure apple seeds and offer them to the chickens to eat and they would be highly unlikely to eat enough to harm themselves, even if they could hold that many seeds in their crop. When they peck at an apple that has fallen they have to eat a lot of apple flesh before they can even get to the seeds. A lot don't get that far, they don't get down to the seeds. If they do, it is a very limited number of seeds.

You do not have anything to worry about with chickens pecking at fallen apples, unless you want to gather them for your own use. Then some will have pecks in them. I just cut those pecks out and use the rest of the apple.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

Short answer - Not a problem at all.

Long answer - Chickens have been grazing under apple trees and all kinds of fruit trees since before they were domesticated. They did not go extinct. Growing up on the farm, one of the favorite places the chickens liked to hang out was the apple orchard. In season they would eat apples that fell but in other seasons they liked to graze or rest under the trees. It helps hide them from hawks. They typically would not really devour an entire apple but they would peck at it and eat some of it.

Practically everything we eat contains a toxin. Not the chickens, what you and I eat. Why don't we get sick? Dosage. We don't eat enough to harm ourselves. One example, white potatoes. French fries, chips, mashed potatoes, however you fix them contains a toxin that can make you sick, but an average human would need to eat about 50 pounds of potatoes at a sitting to eat enough to hurt ourselves. I can't eat that many potatoes in one sitting. Chickens cannot either.

Apple seeds, like many fruit seeds, contain a toxin. Cyanide to be specific. There is enough cyanide in an apple seed to maybe kill a worm small enough to eat into an apple seed. There is not enough cyanide in several apple seeds together to harm anything as big as a chicken, even a bantam or baby. You could probably collect pure apple seeds and offer them to the chickens to eat and they would be highly unlikely to eat enough to harm themselves, even if they could hold that many seeds in their crop. When they peck at an apple that has fallen they have to eat a lot of apple flesh before they can even get to the seeds. A lot don't get that far, they don't get down to the seeds. If they do, it is a very limited number of seeds.

You do not have anything to worry about with chickens pecking at fallen apples, unless you want to gather them for your own use. Then some will have pecks in them. I just cut those pecks out and use the rest of the apple.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on this subject of apples!!! We will test easier now!

 

[Lilbitsnpieces]

My chickens simply avoid the seeds. Unless they have no other options the chickens will not eat...