Can I feed the chickens pulp??

[Mouthwash]

My wife started juicing celery and I'm wondering if there's any reason they couldn't eat the left over pulp?? Not as any main part of their diet, but as just a way to have less food wasted into the garbage.

 

[Sussex19]

Could it be a bit to indigestible and cause blockages? I'm thinking like long grass can, and a mass of pulp could be the same.
I imagine as long as they have plenty of grit, and you don't feed them to much in one go it would be ok, but I don't really know.

 

[Tonyroo]

They can eat it, just make sure there's no stringy pieces. Don't want crop problems.

 

[Mouthwash]

They can eat it, just make sure there's no stringy pieces. Don't want crop problems.

It's almost like a powder

 

[saysfaa]

I assume the point of juicing it is to get the nutrients in it? So...the pulp doesn't have those nutrients?

It still has some nutrients unless you do a lot more to extrct them than just chop, juice, and strain. Might want to be a bit cautious about the proportion of fiber in the overall diet vs the amount of nutrients in it.

I would probably feed a little of it but if there is more than a little very often, compost it and let the chickens eat the plants the compost fed.

 

[Mouthwash]

I assume the point of juicing it is to get the nutrients in it? So...the pulp doesn't have those nutrients?

It still has some nutrients unless you do a lot more to extrct them than just chop, juice, and strain. Might want to be a bit cautious about the proportion of fiber in the overall diet vs the amount of nutrients in it.

I would probably feed a little of it but if there is more than a little very often, compost it and let the chickens eat the plants the compost fed.

Like I said it would be just as a way of reducing waste. Not as a regular part of their diet. A whole bushel of celery left about a palm full of pulp that was "sandy" in texture, along with the leafs that we didn't juice. I actually had the idea to freeze the pulp in ice cubes to give them during the hottest part of the day.

 

[saysfaa]

Right. I still don't know how often or how much.

"Not as any main part of their diet" can mean a tablespoon or less per chicken per day. Or some people mean a feeder full of pellets is their main diet regardless of how much of it they actually eat vs how much other food they eat.

and "not as a regular part of their diet" is probably somewhat more clear given the context. It also can mean less than a tablespoon per chicken per day. Or it might mean they get far more per offering, it just isn't offered every time pellets are; it might be offered once a day or once every two or three days.

A palmful in my hand, of something with the consistency of brown sugar fresh from the package and not packed is about 4 Tablespoons. I wear Euro size 42 shoes (US men's 8) narrow. My son wears Euro size 47 shoes (US men's 14 wide); he could fit 6 or 7 Tablespoons, maybe 8.

My palmful is about right for my four chickens if they don't get othet snacks that day. Maybe you also have four. Maybe you have 40.

Juicing a whole bushel of celery sounds like a LOT of celery juiced. So, maybe juicing celery is done once a year. Or it is for a lot of people to drink fresh or cook with so is done once a week. Or, or, or, or, or...

This week, I got 2 cups of pulp from 3 cups of celery/cucumbers/carrots/cilantro by chopping it, blending it, blending it again with ice and cranberry juice and letting it drip through a strainer without pressing it. We drank the juice but it may be arguable whether that is "juicing"

I think that would leave a LOT more nutrients in the pulp than what you are doing that gets one palmful per bushel. But it is just a guess.

Why don't you juice the leaves?

 

[Mouthwash]

Why don't you juice the leaves?

because they're bitter. Again I didn't ask "is it healthy for them" and not really your opinion on how often or why we are juicing, just "is there any reason the chickens can't eat it."

 

[saysfaa]

I don't care how often or why you juice. And didn't ask. If I had had a less stressful week or been comfortable enough to sleep, I would probably have taken a half a sentence to say all that: a tablespoon or less per chicken per day on the days they don't get other treats won't harm them.

It didn't occur to me that likely/possible health impacts from eating it wasn't what you wanted to know.

Thank you about the celery leaves. I've been intensionally eating more of the parts of vegetables that my mother threw away. Sometimes, they are the most nutritious parts; sometimes there is good reason to not eat them. I didn't know about the celery leaves.

 

[Mouthwash]

I don't care how often or why you juice. And didn't ask. If I had had a less stressful week or been comfortable enough to sleep, I would probably have taken a half a sentence to say all that: a tablespoon or less per chicken per day on the days they don't get other treats won't harm them.

It didn't occur to me that likely/possible health impacts from eating it wasn't what you wanted to know.

Thank you about the celery leaves. I've been intensionally eating more of the parts of vegetables that my mother threw away. Sometimes, they are the most nutritious parts; sometimes there is good reason to not eat them. I didn't know about the celery leaves.

I thought of a bushel was just a bundle they sell at the store so I didn't really think it was a literal measurement. I actually didn't really read your other comment because I saw you talking about your son's shoe size and cilantro. Literally just wanted to know is there a reason they can't eat it. It's all I asked. Seems like the answer is yes they can.