Citris fruits...

[luvinmychickens]

I fed them a half of a tangerine, and they loved it!

 

[BlazeJester]

The problem with citrus is that the acid basically "uses up" the calcium in a hen's body and as a result can cause thin eggshells.

Never met a person who didn't love a gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice...

 

[Lucysmom002]

My hens eat oranges and they love them. I haven't had a sick bird after eating oranges yet. I have however, had chickens quickly get sick and die after eating pumpkin, which I was told was okay for them.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Not all that true,
Citric Acid and Citrus Byproducts are used in all forms of feed including Laying Mash.
Most Vitamins & Electrolytes contains Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, also there is a overlapping pH level between Citric Acid and Apple Cider Vinegar.

Chris

 

[Ariel301]

I regularly fed citrus fruits to my birds and they loved them, and my egg shells and rate of lay were both fine. I would always give the chicks oranges or grapefruit cut in half in the brooders, several times a week, usually about one fruit per 25 chicks or so and they would go nuts over it. Since we have really hot summers, juicy fruits during the day helped to keep the little ones hydrated.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Quote:
That is really strange. I wonder what the problem was? Is there any possibility they were contaminated or going bad and it was botulism? I've heard of a couple of cases of botulism from chickens scavenging in decomposing food. Could something else have been going on at the same time or they ate something else at the same time?

 

[CluckyJay]

I use pureed orange peels and make a bread with guar gum, cornmeal and flour. I feed it to my goats and my chickens a couple of times a week. They adore it and I haven't had a problem with egg production or poor health.

I wouldn't feed huge quantities of it for extended periods, but that is true with a lot of foods.

Their citrus bread is a good way to recycle the peels. I almost took a bite because it smelled SO GOOD!

My recipe is really simple.



Three or five whole, ground orange skins.

About a cup of flour

1/2 cup of cornmeal

a few tablespoons of guar gum powder.


I mix it all together and dump it into a cake pan and bake until it has set up. Its kind of not like normal bread. I cook until can break it into pieces. Doesn't have to be perfect, they can eat it raw or cooked. They really like it cooked though.

 

[sennetech]

My girls love my red grapefruit an clean the inside clean of the fruit

 

[Briza]

My chickens free range in a yard with several grapefruit trees. I couldn't stop them from eating the fallen fruit if I wanted to. They wait for it to start turning a dull pink bordering on brown before eating it though and ignore any that turned greenish. They self regulate how much grapefruit they eat so I'm not worried.