citrus, y not feed?

[lilredchick]

was reading one of the do not feed list on here, and it has citrus as a do not feed.
can anybody give me a reason why you cant?


thanks

 

[Marie1234]

Not even sure if it makes them ill, but I can verify that they do not want it. If my kids drop a piece of watermelon there will be a mass of birds flying to get it...if they drop an orange, nothing.

 

[kipoley]

Oh Oh. My chickens love oranges if I cut them open.

~Kimberly

 

[A.T. Hagan]

If you force poultry to eat large quantities of citrus it can be bad for them.

Offer it to them free choice and I've never found them to eat a great deal at any one time. Plenty of folks in the citrus producing states have fed the fruit to their birds over the years with no apparent harm.

Just don't force them to eat more than they want by restricting their other feed.

.....Alan.

 

[lilredchick]

I was just wondering why it was on there, cause I feed mine oranges all the time. They love em,

and none of them have gotten sick.





just wondering

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Mine love any sort of citrus--they used to eat the oranges until we cut those trees down (icky poor fruit on ugly trees); they love the grapefruit and will eat lemons as well, but there are fewer lemons available (tree is young and small). Citrus does make for sticky, dirty faces.

 

[Neilette]

According to MyPetChicken.com's 'Foods to Avoid' list, "Citrus fruits and peels (... can cause a drop in egg production)". Chapter 7: Caring for Grown Chickens

 

[A.T. Hagan]

We eat a lot of citrus fruit at the house in season. All of the scraps go into the henyard. I've yet to see them eat any citrus peel of any type. The pulp sometimes, the seeds once in a while, never the peel. Can't say that I've ever noticed it harmed then any.

.....Alan.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'd ask the people that wrote it, what their source is for that information. I sure don't have any.