Do chickens like orange peel?

[Mmaya]

I don’t give my chickens the peels. When I use my juicer all the pulp goes to the chickens. But it is a combination of carrots, oranges, apples, celery, cucumber… they eat it all up.

 

[debid]

I eat citrus peels and I don't want to share! OK, so that's only partly true, candied peels are a seasonal treat here.

I'd be more worried about residues from spraying than whether they might ingest too much peel if they are allowed to peck at them. I wash thoroughly when I am making candied peels.

 

[Birdinhand]

my chickens will still turn the soil with peels in it, they don’t eat them but the peels do compost in the deep litter method.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

my chickens will still turn the soil with peels in it, they don’t eat them but the peels do compost in the deep litter method.

They take somewhat forever, but agreed, they do finally break down.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm not sure how this dead thread got resurrected, but yes, if you have orange peels, don't feed them to your birds, you likely don't have enough to grind them up to benefit your soil.

Either add to the rest of your compost, or candy them and dip in dark chocolate.

 

[Sally PB]

or candy them and dip in dark chocolate.

A spoon dipped in dark chocolate tastes great too. Just sayin'.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

A spoon dipped in dark chocolate tastes great too. Just sayin'.

"truth"

 

[Birdinhand]

They take somewhat forever, but agreed, they do finally break down.

For me, it’s part of a larger system of composting where the deep litter method is the first step. The peels get kicked around, sometimes torn up, dedicated and then all of it goes through an insulated tumbler composter when the coop gets dug out about once a year. The compost this creates is gardening gold!