Apples inhibit egg-laying??????

[bawkbawkbawk]

Well, the plot thickens, kind of.

Stopped by the feed store today to get some things and the owner was at the register. I asked her if she had ever heard of apples causing hens to not lay and she said, "Oh, yes, it's the pectin. Never feed apples to your laying hens."

She said it with a tone of great authority, so I was not about to launch into a debate on the subject.

So I came home and Googled the subject again. The ONLY thing I can find are posts on the subject of ADDING pectin to the diet of laying hens as a means of lowering the cholesterol content of eggs. Nothing about the laying of the eggs themselves.

This is now the great mystery of my week...

 

[ace6175]

I had read that chickens were good for an orchard - ate insects. Mine free range in our mini orchard every day, and eat plenty of apples. At 20 weeks, 4 of 9 are laying eggs regularly......

 

[randomchick]

If apples are causing chickens to stop laying, then why do my chickens know when it is time to feed the pigs their apples and wait in the field with them. I get about a dozen eggs from 16 hens daily, and everyday they are in with the pigs eating apples and other fruit.

 

[Whirlwind]

I think for the most part chickens are smart. They usually don't eat the things that can hurt them.

Example, Mistletoe berries, all on the ground by my coop. They peck at them a little but never eat them. Nature made them pretty smart or they would all be dead.

Mine don't usually eat much apples but I have fed them some. However they love all other kinds of fruit and vegies.

 

[Firework]

 

[cybercat]

Well, since I was the other auther of the quote here is more info. SandHill hatchery also gives a warning about fruit and laying. Just because you can not find it on the net search means nothing. The fact is certain fruits fed in excess will stop laying.

In the Org post the author mention she was feeding alot of apples. In this case two things were going on one was protien was way low and due to all the apples and two appels seeds are arsinic. Yes you would have to eat alot for US to be effected but a chicken is much smaller.

It goes without saying if one is feeding an excess of something and you are having a problem like low lay rate then cutting back would be wise. Ofcourse this does not go to layer or egg ration feed. Most laying problems are related to feeding problems. Most also are related to not enough protien. Some people either forget or do not know that when you start with a layer diet of 16% then add lower protien items this brings down the percent of protien which in turns effects laying. So cutting the add ons will raise the protien and increase laying. Either that or changing the diet to a higher protien to compensate for the add ons.

Eating apples will bring down the protien alot why they are candy to chickens. They will fill them up but will not give them what they need to lay. Chickens are like every other animal they would rather eat something sweet and juicy than bland and dry. Chicken feed is much blander and dryer than apples or any other fruit. So they can throw off their diet balance and lower protien to make eggs if fed to much of them.

 

[redhen]

I have heard the fruit thing also...
not about apples though..
maybe it was citrus fruit, they say is bad for chickens??

 

[blbgp]

Quote:
What is "in excess"? My four ladies split half an apple earlier this week. Is that excessive or just a treat?

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
My opinion is, that's a treat and not anywhere near excessive, I cut up any spotty parts of apples or a whole one now and then when the core gets brown or the apple is mealy etc.

My rule for people, pets or livestock is anything (ok, most anything) in moderation. Apples or pears, scraps or cores once or twice a week sounds fine to me, but if you are trying to troubleshoot non-laying, or illness, or odd behaviour etc, go back to bare-bones basics and start from there!

That's what started all this! trying to figure out why a BYC-ers chickens weren't laying.

 

[wombat]

I would think it would take a lot to be excessive to the point that it inhibits laying. We had a lot of damaged tomatos, pears, and apples for a solid month, and we gave our chickens about all they would eat. We had no reduction in laying at all. We just made sure to give them layer feed first thing in the morning, and cut off the treat feeding by mid afternoon so they'd eat some layer feed again at the end of the day.