Chickens eating moldy food?

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KOchickens

KOchickens

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Noob here. We very recently got 4 chickens. My plan, in addition to being family pets, is to use them in conjunction with organic gardening. Mainly pest and weed control, fertilizer and eggs are definitely a bonus! I'm looking forward to them turning and pooping in my compost. However, I've read in a few places not to feed chickens moldy food. If they get in my compost pile, they will have access to moldy, rotting produce and yard waste. Can this pose a problem? I know that lots of people do this, but I'm curious about the potential issues. Thanks
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Chickens shouldnt have moldy or bug infetsed foods.Down the road,it will cause health problems.
 
KOchickens said:
Noob here. We very recently got 4 chickens. My plan, in addition to being family pets, is to use them in conjunction with organic gardening. Mainly pest and weed control, fertilizer and eggs are definitely a bonus! I'm looking forward to them turning and pooping in my compost. However, I've read in a few places not to feed chickens moldy food. If they get in my compost pile, they will have access to moldy, rotting produce and yard waste. Can this pose a problem? I know that lots of people do this, but I'm curious about the potential issues. Thanks
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It shouldn't cause a problem if your compost pile is well aerated. Chickens have been eating rotten and moldy chicken scraps since the beginning of time, no problems.
 
I personally would not feed them moldy food, however rotting or decomposing plant matter doesn't seem to bother them at all. I would avoid anything that actually has outright mold on it, I just don't think mold is healthy for most animals.
 
A few years back I had my feed can spring a leak and the feed at the bottom was getting moisture without my knowing it. When I finally started hitting the extremely moldy feed at the bottom third of the trash can it was fully green and moldy from there on down, most of it tacked together with mold. I emptied that feed out in the woods where I thought my free range flock wouldn't find it. I was wrong...they found it. What was left of it, I upturned a large rubber feed pan on top of so they could not access the feed. Even put a weight on top of that pan so they couldn't knock it to one side.

Guess what...they just kept working the sides of the pan until they worked feed out from under it. I didn't know that because the pan was still in place and such. One day a couple of months later I went to check on that feed to see what it looked like now and remove it for good. Lifted that pan to find the feed was all gone...every last particle. They had worked the ground around it so much that feed would spill out from under the pan like a gravity feeder. I'm guessing rodents had their share of it as well.

I've had them eat moldy bread, moldy pumpkins, moldy corn and just about every other kind of moldy things removed from the fridge or garden. Don't know if there is a particular KIND of mold that's supposed to be bad for them, but I expect they've been eating mold spores in these woods and in their diet since they were chicks on the land. Maybe it's just penned up city chickens that get sick over a piece of moldy food, but mine seem to thrive on it.
 
Thanks for the input. While I won't be actually FEEDING them moldy foods (why take chances), they will be getting in my compost pile, where food naturally gets moldy. I guess there won't be a problem with that then.
 
Last edited:
That's good to know. I'm also wondering if, like people, chicks are MUCH more susceptible to toxins than adult hens. I turn my compost often-ish, and use aerator bars as well. Stuff still gets moldy though, it's just a part of the decomposition.
 

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