Can chickens eat chocolate?

[SimonRooster]

What about popcorn? And my chickens eat tomatoes all the time!

 

[bigt447]

Ripe tomatoes are o.k..the previous warning was for unripe tomatoes and tomatoes leaves.

 

[barneveldrerman]

What about popcorn? And my chickens eat tomatoes all the time!

They can eat air popped popcorn WITHOUT butter or salt!

Hope this helped and let me know if u have anymore questions!

 

[kirschj]

I'm curious about feeding pumpkin protein bars (didn't turn out with the best consistency so my family won't eat) with chocolate chips to my chickens. The chickens will eat just about everything. I see a lot of answers here, but none seem to be based on any science about whether chickens can eat chocolate. People have heard that something is bad for chickens, so all of a sudden it is proof. Same goes for dogs. Eating a Hershey's bar with almost no real chocolate is quite different from having 80% dark chocolate. It can be a 20 fold difference. Same goes for any potentially toxic substance. I'm kind of answering my own question that it is better to be safe than sorry, but other than hearsay, is there any evidence that chocolate is bad for chickens? Anyone ever heard of one dying from eating chocolate? Getting sick at all? Any research to back up the claims? Thanks!

 

[cavemanrich]

You can try your own scientific experiment and tell us the results.
As already known,,,,, most medicine is a form of poison. At the correct amount... it kills the disease causing organism. In excess, and it kills the patient.
Chocolate and grapes/raisins will kill dogs. A small piece of chocolate, or a couple of grapes will not.
I do not give my dogs ether. (even in small quantity)
I'm sure that if you give small quantities of those pumpkin protein bars over an extended period of time,,,,,, nothing drastic is likely to occur. If such was to cause discomfort in your chickens, can your chickens speak???
This is comparing people being allergic to certain foods. They looks normal from the outward appearance, but can communicate that they do not feel good.
Post #9 has some good guidelines.

 

[Acre4Me]

Hershey's bar with almost no real chocolate

Any research to back up the claims?

Curious as to how Hershey's (or any other name brand) milk chocolate has "almost no real chocolate"? Curious bc there are standards of identity ..etc and this may be an example of bad information circulated on the internet.

To the question of feeding old chocolate chip cookies to your chickens, why would you feed them a sugary treat is my question (cookie or other)?

In the future, teenage boys might be better recipients of stale chocolate chip cookies - they'll usually eat anything.

 

[FlyWheel]

Can you list the other bad choices of foods .... Many here can benefit reading the DON'TS.... Thanks !!!

There is a list somewhere in these forums of what you can and cannot give to your chickens. Perhaps someone can post the link, my search attempts have come up bupkiss. I guess I'm using the wrong keywords.

 

[cavemanrich]

There is a list somewhere in these forums of what you can and cannot give to your chickens. Perhaps someone can post the link, my search attempts have come up bupkiss. I guess I'm using the wrong keywords.

I have this saved in BOOKMARKS. It lists plants to avoid. It is a very long list , so I did not copy and paste it for that reason.
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

 

[Alexandra33]

Considering what one feels is safe to feed their flock, it's all a matter of personal personal preference. If you're afraid to offer them certain treats, then refrain. However, I give my girls (and boys) chocolate, with no harmful results. They eat pretty much what we eat, so any leftover desserts go in their scrap bucket. Chocolate cake is a huge hit.

Apple seeds don't hurt a thing..... there's a small pear/apple orchard on our property, where the flock dines daily during fall. Countless seeds consumed. Pretty sure the birds would've dropped like flies if they were truly highly toxic. Same goes for onions and unripe tomatoes. We grow a garden.

Sugar, salt, and fat, unless in excess, will not normally harm chickens. While not necessarily a "natural" diet, I don't see the problem. What dictates the validity of these rules? Just curious.

~Alex

 

[paneubert]

Curious as to how Hershey's (or any other name brand) milk chocolate has "almost no real chocolate"? Curious bc there are standards of identity ..etc and this may be an example of bad information circulated on the internet.

I think it is more a claim that the methods Hersheys uses are seen a "less" than pure in terms of how "good" chocolate is usually made. And then of course there are the policies and political lobbying that any large corporation usually does. Here are two quotes I found. The first references the "crappy" manufacturing processes. The second is about the politics and mystery around why they would lobby for looser definitions of chocolate.

"My understanding of Hershey's is that during their manufacturing process the cocoa solids (the actual chocolate) are separated from the cocoa butter. These cocoa solids are dehydrated and become cocoa powder (so it's no longer chocolate). To form chocolate candy bars, the cocoa powder is then combined with some of the cocoa butter (flavorings, preservatives added along the way). So the “chocolate” is disassembled then re-assembled into a new form.

Is my understanding correct? Can this be called true chocolate? Technically, the reference seems to be “chocolate candy,” which is not classified chocolate. The industry insiders to whom I’ve spoken do not refer to Hershey’s candy as “chocolate.”

Another question: what chemicals are using to process the chocolate solids into cocoa powder. At least it’s not alkali processing, but what?

With Hershey’s Kisses, the quality seems to be less than the candy bar. With the Special Dark it’s slightly better, perhaps the result of a higher-quality cacoa bean (something better than the cheap forastero) and more care in its manufacture. True?

In September 2006, a press release (http://www.newstarget.com/020338.html) stated that Hershey’s would be using real cacoa for the first time in its manufacturing of Cacoa Reserve products.

A thorough search of Hershey’s website comes up with marketing copy, and ingredient listings so ambiguous as to be misleading. Hershey’s is known to be secretive about their actual manufacturing process, and about what preservatives/chemicals are used, but of course, they would be -- we’re dealing with an icon of American culture and billions of dollars in product sales.

Not that I eat Hershey’s – I enjoyed it as a kid but have now moved on to the European/Venezuelan/Central-South American brands, but I’m still curious about this mainstay of American candy. Please help me understand."

And then......

"In March 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, whose members include Hershey's, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, began lobbying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the legal definition of chocolate to allow the substitution of "safe and suitable vegetable fats and oils" (including partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) for cocoa butter in addition to using "any sweetening agent" (including artificial sweeteners) and milk substitutes.[13] Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients.[14] To work around this restriction, products with cocoa substitutes are often branded or labeled as "chocolatey" or "made with chocolate"."