Can Chickens Eat Whole Peaches?

[TheCrazychickenlady2]

I'm an organic grower, and because of that, about 40% of my peach crop have worms in them. Some only have a single worm, and I can cut that out, but other fruit have bunches of them in them.


My question: Can I give my chickens the whole fruit, and have them peck away at it like they do cabbage?


Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I don't want to do the wrong thing with my birds.

Don’t worry it’s not a dumb question, you can give them the fruit itself but just remember to take out the pits because they have a small amount of cyanide in them. I just cut the fruit in half take the pit out and put the fruit in a bowl and they just eat it.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

A chicken isn't going to be able to eat a peach pit, and even if they did there's not enough toxin in there to do any damage. My flock enjoys peaches and usually it's just the pit left pretty quickly!

 

[BecaHawaii]

Yes. They will love them! Will chase each other around trying to take them away. Great exercise. Also, no dumb questions. Throw the whole thing in.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

When I was a kid, we had chickens who got plenty of garden and food scraps. They must have had the remains of a peach at some point, because the pit got jammed under the corner of the coop...where it sprouted and started to grow. It grew, and grew...and started producing peaches.

Literally thousands of peaches were harvested from that tree over a decade plus (long after my parents didn't raise chickens any more and I'd moved out) before the tree finally succumbed.

Talk about the ultimate "volunteer"!

 

[BecaHawaii]

When I was a kid, we had chickens who got plenty of garden and food scraps. They must have had the remains of a peach at some point, because the pit got jammed under the corner of the coop...where it sprouted and started to grow. It grew, and grew...and started producing peaches.

Literally thousands of peaches were harvested from that tree over a decade plus (long after my parents didn't raise chickens any more and I'd moved out) before the tree finally succumbed.

Talk about the ultimate "volunteer"!

Our chickens get all our leftovers. They know when I'm walking down the stairs with the black bowl it's for them. They go crazy!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Our chickens get all our leftovers. They know when I'm walking down the stairs with the black bowl it's for them. They go crazy!

Same...basically zero food waste goes into our garbage, it's all in the "chicken bowl" on the counter. Chickens can be grown in a very sustainable way...reducing waste, converting scraps to nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and they're great compost turners.

 

[BecaHawaii]

Same...basically zero food waste goes into our garbage, it's all in the "chicken bowl" on the counter. Chickens can be grown in a very sustainable way...reducing waste, converting scraps to nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and they're great compost turners.

Our neighbor used to work as a dishwasher at an assisted living facility. He’d bring us the plate scrapings and leftovers for our flock. It was the best! They loved spaghetti night.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Our neighbor used to work as a dishwasher at an assisted living facility. He’d bring us the plate scrapings and leftovers for our flock. It was the best! They loved spaghetti night.

Yes, I'll never understand people who don't feed their flock food scraps. Chickens are the ultimate nutrient-recyclers.

Right now, I have 20 5-gallon buckets full of assorted food waste in the back of my pickup, waiting for me to unload and dump it for the flock into one of the compost piles tomorrow morning.

I pick them up from a food pantry nearby. They have to cull food that comes in bad or goes bad before it can be distributed. I do this twice a week. If I didn't, ALL that food would end up in their dumpster, where they'd have to pay to have it hauled away.

 

[BecaHawaii]

Yes, I'll never understand people who don't feed their flock food scraps. Chickens are the ultimate nutrient-recyclers.

Right now, I have 20 5-gallon buckets full of assorted food waste in the back of my pickup, waiting for me to unload and dump it for the flock into one of the compost piles tomorrow morning.

I pick them up from a food pantry nearby. They have to cull food that comes in bad or goes bad before it can be distributed. I do this twice a week. If I didn't, ALL that food would end up in their dumpster, where they'd have to pay to have it hauled away.

We have a friend who raises pigs for Luau’s and he picks up all the grocery store waste for them.

 

[BecaHawaii]

We have a friend who raises pigs for Luau’s and he picks up all the grocery store waste for them.

I have to go in my coop and what I call “bone pick up” every few months.