-Isla June-
Songster
Hey everyone! I enjoy juicing and recently juiced beets. I fed it to my chickens without thinking, is it ok to feed chickens beets? Will it turn their yolks/eggs red?
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Amazing, thank you!!It should be fine. There is a chance it may make the yolks a touch darker, but I doubt if it does it’ll even be very noticeable.
Will it be good for them? Or offer any benefits?Amazing, thank you!!
Awesome, thank you both for your help!!Beets are safe for chickens to eat. If fed a large amount, it can temporarily give the yolks a reddish look.
Oxalates
Cases of poisoning have been reported in cows fed on fodder beet. Symptoms described were similar to those of milk fever and were alleviated by calcium injections (Price, 1954). Leaves contain large amount of oxalic acid (calcium oxalates) and should not be fed in large quantities to livestock as it has a deleterious effect on Ca status. Oxalates bind circulating Ca, a factor contributing to milk fever (Duncan et al., 1997). However, levels of oxalic acid between 3.0-6.0 g/kg DM have been observed in the roots, far below the 100 g/kg level that is considered to be dangerous (Boyd, 1991).
Nitrates
Freshly harvested fodder beet roots can contain high levels of nitrates, which are known to cause scouring in farm animals. Scouring was observed in pigs fed fodder beet containing high levels of nitrates and the digestive disturbance ceased within two days when fodder beet with very low nitrate levels was substituted. It has been suggested that nitrates rather than oxalates were the cause of the scouring observed in other experiments (Boyd, 1991). In sows, cases of abortion in herds fed on high nitrate/nitrite fodder beet roots have been reported (Bouska, 1991).
Your chickens will probably have red droppings after eating beets.I enjoy juicing and recently juiced beets. I fed it to my chickens without thinking, is it ok to feed chickens beets? Will it turn their yolks/eggs red?
When you say tops, you mean greens? I've always given my birds beet greens, & they never had issues.Its Ok, not stronly encouraged. More yellow/orange in my experience - though mine aren't real fond of them.
According to Feedipedia.org, (Nutritional Aspects Tab) you need to be concerned about Oxylates, particularly in the tops:
Nutritionally, the roots are mostly carbs with a moderate amount of fiber, and low protein. Essentially, a potential corn substitute in feed (in limited quantity), which would require rearranging the rest of the feed. Beets are even lower Methionine, which is the hardest AA to supply in a plant-based diet, though better in Lysine and Threonine, on average.
I've not put them into my nutritional calculator, they just aren't frequently used in poultry feeds. Nor have I run across any studies I recall re: beet roots and poultry feed.