Can chickens eat chocolate?

[cavemanrich]

I still like Hershey chocolate regardless what is in it. My taste buds are heppi heppi heppi.
Many things are taken apart and reconstituted. Milk is made in different percentages. I like 2% for drinking BEST.
As to corporate SECRETS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Try to find the formula for.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ugh don't get me started on the definition of chocolate versus "chocolate candy" "chocolate-y" etc. It's companies making money off inferior products and consumer ignorance. By definition chocolate has to have cocoa butter and cocoa solids... the cheapest fake chocolates don't have any cocoa butter at all.

Can barely find "white chocolate" any more... once again, the difference is cocoa butter, which is what gives it the creamy smooth melt, versus substitute products like plant oils.

My latest discovery: "frozen dairy dessert." A few years ago I bought some Breyers Cookies and Cream ice cream... or at least it USED to be ice cream. The taste was off. I stared at the container in confusion, then I saw it in the corner in tiny letters: Frozen Dairy Dessert. At some point, to save a production buck, they reduced the amount of milk fat so this is no longer legally ice cream.

 

[Acre4Me]

chocolate versus "chocolate candy" "chocolate-y" etc. It's companies making money off inferior products and consumer ignorance.

Ehh...maybe change your perspective a tad...I mean this with positive intentions. There are standards of identity in place for a reason. A product cannot be called "x" (like "butter" or "chocolate" or "mayonnaise") without conforming to certain standards. Often these standards were put into place to keep cheap knockoffs (made with all kinds of substitutions) from fully competing with the "real" stuff. However, this does not mean the knock-offs are terrible, nor are they made with poison ingredients (and often these things are made to seem bad/ psuedo-poisonous). Also, there is an ingredients label to read on these products.

Can barely find "white chocolate" any more... once again, the difference is cocoa butter, which is what gives it the creamy smooth melt, versus substitute products like plant oils.

Actually, within the past 15 years a standard of identity was sought after (and is now in place) by the US chocolate industry for a white choc standard of identity where a product called "white chocolate" can only have it's fat come from cocoa butter. I can easily find "white chcocolate" in my grocery store.

"frozen dairy dessert."

Yup. Standard of identity are in place for a product to be called "ice cream", which requires a certain milkfat percentage. So, if a manufacturer produces a product that does not meet the standard, must be called something else. Again, reading the label reveals a lot. Also, sometimes a product is re-formulated out of the standard. For example, several years ago when the bird flu hit, and eggs were very hard to come by (at least in the quantities that manufacturers require), many products were re-formulated. For many, they were not bound by standards of identity. But there is a standard for "mayonnaise" and for "salad dressing" aka miracle whip etc. "salad dressing" requires a certain percent of the formula to be egg yolk, and during the bird flu time frame when eggs were hard to get, these "salad dressing" products often changed their label to just "dressing" as they could not legally label the product "salad dressing".

 

[Acre4Me]

I still like Hershey chocolate regardless what is in it. My taste buds are heppi heppi heppi.
Many things are taken apart and reconstituted. Milk is made in different percentages. I like 2% for drinking BEST.
As to corporate SECRETS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Try to find the formula for.

I like Hershey's too, but prefer dark chocolate, so I don't eat much milk chocolate.

Coca-Cola: you can find the recipe, but you would never be able to replicate it. And it's unlikely that their corporate secret formula will be revealed! There is a lot of citrus oil in Coke (orange, lemon and lime), which is emulsified into the water base. Also, there is a lot of vanilla, but this is produced in large quantities and aged a certain way. And then there are spices, like nutmeg. And they make so much coca-cola that they are likely buying a whole crop of this or that citrus (and it is likely a certain variety of citrus) etc. So, a regular person would not be able to make coke. And from my notes above, it is obviously well-blended since most of us aren't tasting the citrus/vanilla/spices individually. For an interesting, low cost experiment, get a cheap coke/pepsi knockoff (beg a few off friends - one can of each knock-off will do). Then get a can of coke. Pour these all into different cups (clear is helpful, but not necessary). It is not uncommon to see a few drops of oil on top of the knockoffs, as the emulsion of citrus oils may not have been as high quality or as stable. Whereas, I've never seen a coke that has had the emulsion break (unless of course, it was frozen or heated to extreme then all bets are off for emulsions). Of course smell them too (before you taste them) and you should smell a difference between them.

 

[Acre4Me]

Here are two quotes I found.

Eh...too much bad info on the net, so can't give it much weight without knowing the actual source, and the full quote/context.

To work around this restriction, products with cocoa substitutes are often branded or labeled as "chocolatey" or "made with chocolate"."

Thankfully they cannot be labelled as such. Because it cannot be called "chocolate" unless conforming to certain standards, the consumer is not mislead by the same term for a different product.

"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.

Wonder if this has to do with the supply of chocolate. It is an agricultural crop, often grown in unstable (politically) areas. Not sure if there are any crop viruses/illnesses affecting the cocoa trees either. If so, then that may be why they are trying to lobby so they can call it "chocolate".

 

[rosemarythyme]

However, this does not mean the knock-offs are terrible, nor are they made with poison ingredients

I can easily find "white chcocolate" in my grocery store.

Of course the "knock-offs" are not poisonous, they're still food products. But are they terrible? They certainly are on my tongue - cocoa butter's melt is superior versus something like palm oil, which always tastes greasy to me. Some people do prefer the knock-offs in flavor/texture and price, but I find it very hard to eat.

I had a hard time finding white chocolate chips (specifically) last time. I checked multiple brands and noticed they were all labeled "white chips" - a label check confirmed they had little to no cocoa butter. I ended up buying two bars of white chocolate and then chopping it up for the cookies. Works fine but I was hoping for actual chips for a more consistent chip size.

And while I agree it is on the consumer to check the labels, there's just something disappointing about buying a product that you've bought many times before only to find out that it changed, usually after you've already bought it and put it in a meal.

 

[Lighteye]

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!

M currently feeding them chocolate powder since it's oats chocolate flavor. I'll know tomorrow if they will die or not

 

[Breakfast for dinner]

Interesting topic. Don’t think the chickens will ever see chocolate as the wife is partial to the taste.

 

[Lighteye]

M currently feeding them chocolate powder since it's oats chocolate flavor. I'll know tomorrow if they will die or not

Well...sorry to bust everyone's bubble but my chickens are still active. All 51 of them. And it's raining!!! Gotta make them some garlic water incase they get colds

 

[Peppercorngal]

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!

I found this information: Chickens should not eat chocolate. Theobromine and caffeine are the toxic elements of chocolate and are also found in some drinks - coffee, tea and colas among them. The darker the chocolate, the more theobromine it contains and the more dangerous it is. So, here's a reason. I would never give my chickens chocolate as I WANT it myself! Chocolate would never get old in this house! I give my dogs M&M's for a treat and my vet says 3 or 4 for each dog is fine, just don't give them 100!! I have terriers and a husky.