Chickens and hot peppers!

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Hello chicken friends, question: can chickens eat my garden peppers? I have jalapeños, habanero and maybe anther hot one. Thank you!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Yes but they will change the color of their yolks to a dark orange-ish red. Remember not to let them over indulge in treats, no more than 10% of their daily diet.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Yes chickens cannot taste/sense the capsaicin (what makes peppers hot).

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Yes but they will change the color of their yolks to a dark orange-ish red. Remember not to let them over indulge in treats, no more than 10% of their daily diet.

I assume that offering some fruit/veggie daily (small amount for example, 5 hens get like 10 blueberries), would be a healthy benefit rather than a treat. Thanks aunt jessi

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Yes chickens cannot taste/sense the capsaicin (what makes peppers hot).

Cool, i have read that but wanted to make sure.

 

[defazzy]

Only mammals can taste spicy food, chickens lack the VR1 capsaicin receptors. Fun fact, these are actually receptors to taste heat. In essence, spicy food isn't spicy at all, it's just how we experience it. So it's perfectly safe for chickens.

Peppers will make the egg yolks darker but they won't make the eggs taste spicy. Many people also use it to keep rats out. There is some evidence for an antibiotic effect and adding a few peppers to their diet could stimulate egg laying.

Source: https://www.chickenfans.com/chickens-spicy-food/

 

[PopoMyers]

I add turmeric and cayenne powder to their soldier fly/oatmeal treats.

 

[Callender Girl]

When I used to fill bird feeders (before the days of avian flu), I would sometimes buy what was billed as "squirrel proof" bird seed, laced with capsaicin that the wild birds couldn't taste but deterred the rodents from emptying my feeders.

 

[TammyRoesch]

When I used to fill bird feeders (before the days of avian flu), I would sometimes buy what was billed as "squirrel proof" bird seed, laced with capsaicin that the wild birds couldn't taste but deterred the rodents from emptying my feeders.

I am new to chickens... Just bought a couple feeders...so you don't fill feeders anymore?

 

[Callender Girl]

I may have made that confusing. I do fill my chicken feeders, which are all kept inside the coops/runs. I just don't fill the wild bird feeders out in the yard.

I probably could because I clearly see migrating birds making their way into my yard -- which I generally love. Not filling the wild bird feeders isn't stopping them from showing up.

I quit because there was avian flu in a couple of adjacent counties to mine, and because I am close to a county-owned pond where migratory waterfowl congregate.

Also, keep in mind that I am an overprotective worrywart.