Calcium

[Lobzi]

Quote:
Oh that is good to know, for both my chickens AND myself. Thanks.

 

[substandardtim]

as to being lactose intolerent...where I got the notion of giving chickens milk was from The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour. Which is an excellent book by the way.

"...If you give them plenty of milk (skimmed is nearly as good)
you can forget all but a little of the cod liver oil, the alfalfa
meal, and half, if not all, the fish meal or meat meal."

 

[digitS']

That sounds like what James Dryer was advising 100 years ago for chickens. Except he suggested cottage cheese - and that's what I used to make with a surplus of milk. I called it "animal cheese" because I had no intention of eating it

.

Here's what the North Carolina State University poultry scientists say : "Chickens do not possess the necessary enzymes to efficiently hydrolyze lactose into glucose and galactose."

So in other words, they are lactose intolerant.

If they are provided with the micro-organisms that are found in cultured milk products, chickens can apparently make good use of the nutrients. In fact, providing them with these "probiotics" has been researched as a way to prevent diseases.

Steve

 

[Lobzi]

My grandma used to feed her chickens the "clabbered milk" which was otherwise thrown away. It came from the churning of butter and it sold as "butter milk" today.