dangerous chicken foods

[mickeymousears]

Hi all!
What are foods that should never be given to chickens??

I'm new to chickens but experienced with parrots and for example avocados can kill a parrot. Is there a list of foods to avoid with chickens?? Since they are in the backyard are there any injects or plant to keep them away from??

Thanks!!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Hi.
Here's the link to the chicken treats chart. There's a list of no-nos at the bottom. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Basically nothing moldy or rotten.

Nor anything that is mostly fat and/or sugar. It's no better for them than it is for us.

Most anything else is OK because they generally won't eat it if it's dangerous. Presuming of course it's not contaminated with something toxic like pesticides and so on.

 

[Theapplechicks]

I know citrus in on the no no list but I have also come across several places that said it's ok. The complaint was it could effect egg production??? Well my girls go absolutely CRAZY over a grapefruit! (and they have never had any problem with it and still lay just as good) Wouldn't touch a pomogranate but will tear a grapefruit to shreds! They also love leftover corn from dinner, salad (no dressing of course) bread loaf ends, and scrambled eggs...

 

[Ariel301]

There is nothing wrong with citrus, that's a myth being spread by one of the hatcheries for some reason. I give my birds citrus fruit every day and they are fine. I also give them avocado, potato peelings, and things that are semi-rotten. My hens dragged some nasty rancid beef fat out of the trash last time we butchered a steer, the fat had been out in the sun for days and was turning green, and they gobbled it right up and were perfectly fine. I don't know what the deal is about parrots and avocados, I used to raise parrots and I fed them avocado frequently. The pit shouldn't be eaten by any animal, but the fruit has never given my birds a problem.

 

[mickeymousears]

I thought citrus sounded weird. We eat a lot of citrus and I share it with everyone else with no problems.

Avocado is actually toxic to everyone but the way birds/parrots metabolise their food and their weight makes it dangerous. I have been in the ER with my bird after he drank water that had a seed growing in it. Over the years he has gotten into a sandwhich or two with avocado on it and had no problems. So my guess would be the seed contains the most toxicity (a lot of plants are fine to eat except leaves/stems/seeds/etc)

 

[Nambroth]

Quote:
This is correct-- the seed and to a lesser extent the peel contains most of the toxins, which create an extreme allergic reaction in birds. Some birds seem far less susceptible than others for some reason (old world parrots seem to have a lot of trouble with it, especially Australian species, for example). The birds that are the most sensitive to it can have a reaction to the flesh of the avocado too. I suspect that chickens have less of a problem with avocado than parrots.

 

[pixiedouglas]

Quote:
I thought potato peels were toxic for them, or do you boil them first?

 

[awesomefowl]

Chocolate--eat it yourself. Chickens can eat just about everything; meat, vegetables, grains. In the wild they usually don't get enough toxins from wild plants to kill them since they only peck a bit. My girls love corn cobs, watermelon rinds, and BOSS. (black oil sunflower seeds)

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
I thought potato peels were toxic for them, or do you boil them first?

I think it's the raw potato peels. If their cooked I feed it to mine!! Matter of fact they get everything we don't end up consuming!! They haven't turned their nose up to anything yet!!