chocolate cake

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Chocolate isn't toxic the same way that say, antifreeze is toxic. It takes a certain "dose" of chocolate to be considered "toxic", and the better quality the chocolate is, the less it takes to be deadly. No, a bite of chocolate (like milk chocolate, for example) every now and then isn't going to kill your dog, but chocolate even in small amounts can cause nasty diarrhea, pancreatitis, and general malaise in your pets and is just not a good idea.

eta: (I am a licensed veterinary technician, and work in an emergency clinic where we do see the results of such feedings).

 

[farmerlor]

My thoughts: We have chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks....and I wouldn't normally give them chocolate. Like it's not one of the things I add to their flock block when I'm making them a treat, y'know? But I figure a chicken lives like what, 5-7 years? So the other day my husband came home with some chocolate donuts that he didn't like and I gave the to the girlies. Figure 4 donuts divided between 30 girls, how much damage could it do? And if it does do some damage aren't they going to be pretty much dead and in the ground before it catches up with them? I do wish I could get some really great Cadbury eggs from my chickens by feeding them chocolate.....

 

[SunnyDawn]

From what I've read it isn't "toxic" per se. However it is such a common allergen in the animal world that they recommend staying away from it. You might be fine giving it to your animals and you might not. No way to tell which animal is going to be allergic to it until you give it to them. If they live they're not allergic to chocolate, if they die, well then you know he/she was allergic!

Just saw Cloverleaf's note about being a Vet tech. I'd follow her advice.

BTW I don't give any of my animals chocolate but if I ever get a really, really obnoxious animal I might experiment just to see...
Just kidding.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
No, chocolate doesn't do "long term" damage. It causes racing heart rates, diarrhea, seizures, and eventually death, it happens within hours, it's not cumulative. There honestly probably isn't enough "real" chocolate in doughnuts to hurt them!

eta: There is a chemical in chocolate that most animals can't process, it builds up in their system causing the above symptoms.

 

[thechickenchick]

Quote:

 

[WingingIt]

I gave ours a pan of brownies that the kids burned last weekend. 19 chickens and one pan of brownies along with some leftover pasta and their greens. They ate it up and haven't had any issues. My neighbor's a vet and he told me (pertaining to dog, which is what we were talking about) that it's the stuff with a high percentage of pure cocoa that's really dangerous.....that stuff can kill a dog quickly with a relatively small dose. Regular cocoa powder (in the brownies) does NOT have a high percentage. Probably hardly any.

Man, chocolate filled eggs.........wouldn't that be something?

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Quote:
No, chocolate doesn't do "long term" damage. It causes racing heart rates, diarrhea, seizures, and eventually death, it happens within hours, it's not cumulative. There honestly probably isn't enough "real" chocolate in doughnuts to hurt them!

eta: There is a chemical in chocolate that most animals can't process, it builds up in their system causing the above symptoms.

What is the chemical? could it have any effect on humans?
I have never fed chocolate to my chickens mainly because I know of several animals that died from eating chocolate.
Also the sugar is bad for their digestive systems so no cake, chocolate, donuts, or candy for my flock.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
There are some things on the "no-no" list that is a crock.
Raw green potato peels --
I seen chickens eat raw green potato peels and it didn't harm them. My chickens get all my potato peels green or other wise and there still living.

Citrus --
I and others I know feed citrus to chickens there not dead in fact most electrolytes have a citrus based acid in them...

It says on that list that Beans should be well-cooked only, never dry and includes green beans.
I feed raw green bean all the time in the summer when the garden is in. There is a lot of all grain feeds out there that has MUNG BEANS in it as far as that go's my "scratch grain" has MUNG BEANS in it and my chickens are just fine..

Chris

.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
No, chocolate doesn't do "long term" damage. It causes racing heart rates, diarrhea, seizures, and eventually death, it happens within hours, it's not cumulative. There honestly probably isn't enough "real" chocolate in doughnuts to hurt them!

eta: There is a chemical in chocolate that most animals can't process, it builds up in their system causing the above symptoms.

What is the chemical? could it have any effect on humans?
I have never fed chocolate to my chickens mainly because I know of several animals that died from eating chocolate.
Also the sugar is bad for their digestive systems so no cake, chocolate, donuts, or candy for my flock.

It's theobromine...here's a link that explains it...

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/question348.htm

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
There are some things on the "no-no" list that is a crock.
Raw green potato peels --
I seen chickens eat raw green potato peels and it didn't harm them. My chickens get all my potato peels green or other wise and there still living.

Citrus --
I and others I know feed citrus to chickens there not dead in fact most electrolytes have a citrus based acid in them...

It says on that list that Beans should be well-cooked only, never dry and includes green beans.
I feed raw green bean all the time in the summer when the garden is in. There is a lot of all grain feeds out there that has MUNG BEANS in it as far as that go's my "scratch grain" has MUNG BEANS in it and my chickens are just fine..

Chris

.

It was written as a guideline, not "rules"...do what you want. I was trying to be helpful - sorry if I offended you and your chicken-feeding practices.