Crabapple Mash?

[lmsuk]

Hi guys,

I've been lurking around here for a while now - since I got my first chickens a year ago, I've read just about everything chicken related the net can throw at me! - but I've finally bitten the bullet and signed up, as I have a question I haven't yet found an answer to.

I have a large crabapple tree in my garden, and I just cooked down a whole bunch of them to make some pectin, leaving me with a sort of crabapple mash. Is that chicken-friendly food? Up to know, the apples just tend to fall off the tree and go to waste, and it'd be great if I could get some use out of them, and then give the chicks the resultant mess that would usually just go in the bin!

Thanks in advance!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The mush should be alright but any leftover or windfall apples would be even better.

 

[lmsuk]

Thanks! I tried them with the leftover mash, which they seemed to enjoy more than whole crabapples, but sadly they didn't seem overly bothered by that, either. They go nuts over regular apples, but turn their beaks up at all the free crabapples. Naturally...

They did go nuts for the leftover seeds and raspberry/blackberry pulp from the jam the pectin went into, though

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Thanks! I tried them with the leftover mash, which they seemed to enjoy more than whole crabapples, but sadly they didn't seem overly bothered by that, either. They go nuts over regular apples, but turn their beaks up at all the free crabapples. Naturally...

They did go nuts for the leftover seeds and raspberry/blackberry pulp from the jam the pectin went into, though

Everyone remember that chickens are naturally attracted to the color RED and that they will peck anything that is red whether it is eatable (to us humans) or not. This among other things is an indication of how important raw animal protein is in a chickens' diet.

I am willing to bet that the "regular apples" that you treated your chickens to were RED apples as is raspberry and to some degree spent blackberry pulp.

 

[lmsuk]

Most of the whole crabapples are 70% red, while the apple they normally get are green. I think they're just picky