Artificial sweeteners?

[faebun]

I tried making jam with sucralose instead of sugar for my grandma (she's diabetic and can't have much sugar) but it turned out horribly! Way too tart, a weird texture, and just not good. I was wondering if it was ok to let my chickens have a go at it, though- I know they definitely love raspberries without the sweetener added.

Will artificial sweeteners hurt my chooks?

 

[TroyerGal]

A natural sweetner that would be good ( for grandma and chooks) is stevia... i looked on other forums and it seems fine for chickens

 

[ladyearth]

I wouldnt give crap sweetner to anything maybe a skunk. that stuff is bad for people even. I have been listening to health radio show and intensive reading.....
best stuff if we are to consume would be evaporated cane juice.... that what I usually buy
course personally I prefer the real raspberries.
Dr Betty Martinez recommends "sweet like sugar" I believe its called... she said lotsof the other junk should never have been approved, she has been talking about this for years....
yeah, I admit Im a sweet tooth nut but I like most of my stuff natural... right off the vine...LOL esp my own berries....
id better get busy freezing what I picked other evening...

 

[vasher]

Only studies to my knowledge have been done on humans/mice/rats, and no toxic effects until you get the equivalent eating a bucket of Splenda a day. OTOH, I have no idea how chickens metabolize or (probably in the case of sucralose) don't metabolize. Give a little bit and see?

 

[faebun]

I guess it looked better than it tasted- one of my chickens that will eat anything pecked at it a bit and immediately started wiping her beak on the ground. Not good!

 

[pauleberly]

We grow stevia. A couple of plants should provide you will al the sugar substitute you need since stevia is so much sweater than sugar.

I would assume stevia would be just fine for chickens as well

 

[TroyerGal]

Stevia is really easy to keep alive too

 

[pauleberly]

Stevia is really easy to keep alive too

Yeah we love it. We will even just throw a leaf into our teas while it brews. Also, fresh and healthy sugar year round is a plus!

 

[TroyerGal]

I've never tried it in teas... but some friends of ours put it in their coffee