Do you/Can you feed your chickens fresh cayenne peppers?

[PunkinPeep]

I've read about folks using cayenne pepper to keep the worm population down in their chickens. We grew a good harvest of cayenne peppers in our garden this year, and just now i was cleaning them out and saving the seeds and insides, imagining i would feed them to the chickens for the same reason. I've heard that they don't taste "hot" to chickens. But the way my fingers are burning right now, i'm wondering if it's ok to feed the fresh cayenne to them. Will they have burning and irritation in their crops?

Does anyone know?

 

[Ariel301]

I don't know about its medicinal effects, but it won't hurt them if you feed them some. Ours get the "cleanings" from jalapenos and chiles that we have roasted and frozen/canned, sometimes a bucket full at a time, and they don't care. The goats, on the other hand, tend to get a good case of "mouth on fire" lol.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Oh great news! Thank you!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Birds don't have the receptors to detect "hotness". The peppers also will not irritate their crops. I have no idea whether hot peppers have an effect on worms though; I'm not sure by what mechanism it could work. If your birds will eat them I'd give make them available.