can chickens eat citrus

[UrbanGrower]

Mine aren't too keen on the oranges. They won't even touch the onions.

 

[mons02035]

I bet chickens don't like the orange peels because they are so bitter.

 

[dab89]

Mine really don't like it.

 

[joebat]

Mine don't eat it. I have a lemon tree in my back yard and an accasional lemon winds up on the ground. They won't touch them. I throw citrus hulls out on the compost pile every day and they don't touch them. They will eat every citrus flower they can reach.

 

[stilldeb]

I read something once about chickens getting 'drunk' on oranges they found in the compost pile that had fermented a bit.

 

[billfields]

Quote:
Agreed. I have some questions about that chart. Or perhaps more accurately some concerns as to how absolute and infallibly it some times gets interpreted. In theory the bean thing is because dried beans can swell and cause some digestive problems which is probably true sometimes if the wrong chicken eats them to excess. Personally tho I believe more in the power of a gizzard than the infallibility of the treat list.

 

[Garden Betty]

Quote:
Citrus turns alkaline during digestion, so it actually decreases acidity in the human body. I'd be interested in knowing if this is also true of a bird's digestive system.

But anyway, I have read elsewhere that the misconception with not feeding citrus to chickens comes from an old study that found citrus peels (byproducts of the juice industry) to be a non-nutritious supplement to poultry feed. And perhaps this led to people believing over time that it meant all citrus was bad for chickens.

 

[Hunter0704]

Here is a list of toxic plants for chickens: Hope it helps!

http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

 

[CarolJ]

I keep a bowl in my kitchen - and all food scraps go into it. Each morning I empty the bowl into a pan in the chicken coop. By the end of the day, the scraps are all gone. Occasionally there are bits and pieces of citrus in that bowl of food scraps - and they eat it all. They always have plenty of Layena available - so they aren't eating it because they're hungry. I put the peelings in the compost heap, though.

 

[lindamiller]

would like to know what chickens can not eat as far as people food...We have chickens that are about 3 months old and they seem to like everything. Just want to know what people food they should not or can not eat.