Dry Milk, safe to feed?

[kellykungfu]

Hi Everyone,

I got a box of leftover dry milk that nobody seems to want to drink in our house. Can I just mix this into my chicken's feed? Or am I better off mixing it up with water and letting them drink it?

Have a great day and God bless.
-kelly

 

[elmo]

Birds can't digest the lactose in milk. A little bit won't hurt them (but it won't help them, either) but if you give them enough it will simply give them the runs.

Yogurt and cheese are different, since the lactose has been converted to something else in these products.

 

[speckledhen]

Actually, mixing nonfat dry milk in chick starter is a treatment for cocciodiosis. It wont hurt them, but dont do it on a regular basis.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Yup. The theory is that giving the birds diarrhea will somehow "flush out" the parasites. I'd be more worried about dehydration, myself.

 

[speckledhen]

Actually, it did not cause diarrhea here when I did it for cocci, after Sulmet failed twice. At that point, loose stools would have been better than them dying of coccidiosis anyway. If you have eimeria tenella, one of the types of cocci that apparently is in my soil, I found out later that Sulmet will not fix that. Eventually, I finally found some Corid and that is what I use now. With 6 or more feedstores around here, no one had Corid except one.
That said, yes, yogurt is better for them than just milk and I wouldnt feed milk on a regular basis.

 

[AHappychick]

I would tuck the powdered milk to the side and use when treating cocci. it coats the intestines and stops the bleeding. I love it for that just stick it in your med kit for later use. .

 

[Chris09]

If milk is so bad for chickens why do so many breeders mix Calf Mana in there feed?
Calf Mana has a milk product in it.. Its the 4th ingredeint...

Soybean meal, corn, hominy feed, feeding oatmeal, dried whey, dehydrated alfalfa meal, linseed meal, brewer’s dried yeast, vegetable oil, fenugreek seed, anise oil, calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, salt, sulfur, iron oxide, ferrous carbonate, ferrous sulfate, copper oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, sodium selenite, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, biotin.

I know some people that soak oats in milk overnight and feed the soaked oats to the chickens 2 times a week...

Chris

 

[speckledhen]

There are some studies that say chickens do not digest lactose well, however, many farmers have fed their chickens raw milk for centuries. I don't hesitate to use buttermilk, yogurt or nonfat dry milk during a bout of cocci. Last time, I used raw goats' milk given to me by a friend. Seemed to help alot.

 

[Chris09]

speckledhen;

That is what I was told is that farmers have fed their chickens raw milk for centuries..
I was also told that if a hen stops laying or lays a egg now and then to give her milk and all the wheat she wants to eat...
We have dairy goats and I give my hens milk twice a week and they drink it like like there is no tomorrow...

Chris

 

[elmo]

Hundreds of years ago, no one understood the process of digestion, knew that lactose existed in milk, knew that it requires a particular enzyme to digest, or knew that chickens like other birds lack this enzyme.

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/dairy.html