⠀ Coconut oil

[Bruberi]

I recently discovered my ladies go crazy for coconut oil seed balls. I mix flax sunflower millet other wild bird seeds in a coconut oil base. I give them a 1/2lb ball every other day. They seem to eat it and lose interest after a while. They take a while to finish it - about 2 days. Is it possible to over-dose on coconut oil?

 

[shortgrass]

I recently discovered my ladies go crazy for coconut oil seed balls. I mix flax sunflower millet other wild bird seeds in a coconut oil base. I give them a 1/2lb ball every other day. They seem to eat it and lose interest after a while. They take a while to finish it - about 2 days. Is it possible to over-dose on coconut oil?

Nope, coconut oil is VERY beneficial....as long as you're not overdoing it with the fatty treats lol, keep it under 10% of their daily rations

I'm going to try that lol, I use coconut oil to cook with, and I love it too!

 

[Bruberi]

Great to hear I use coconut oil in my cooking too. I then mix the oil I've cooked with to mix in with the seeds. I pour the oily seed mixture into a old yoghurt cup & place in the freezer to harden. I use a old wire suetball bird feeder & hand=g that in the coop. They peck as required. Its winter here now, so I'm guessing they need a little extra to get them through the cold days & nights. I still get 10 eggs from 12 hens on a daily basis - one is broody

so that's pretty good production. I will reduce the oil balls when it warms up to once a week Dont want them getting all fat & lazy.

 

[DrPatrickBiggs]

I have never heard of a cocunut-oil-overdose! I wouldn't expect that to be an issue. I would suggest that you cut back slightly on the amount that you are providing at once. Chickens will eat to meet their energy requirement. Coconut oil (a fat) is high in calories, so if they are eating too much of this, then they are going to eat less of their feed. That means that they are not going to be getting the necessary nutrition (vitamins, minerals, protein, calcium etc) that they need to support egg production. This will be more problematic in warm/hot weather when they are eating less feed.

 

[Bruberi]

Thanks. They definitely have slowed down on their excitement around the coconut oil treats. Only pecking them occasionally. They are increasing their food intake as summer approaches and their egg production increases.