Feeding Biochar to chickens... Anyone tried it?

[sabernathy]

I would like to start using biochar to spread in the litter in my coop and run. Could someone reccomend which char I should purchase? I know the chickens will concume the char in the litter and i would like to stay organic. I am new to raising chickens and very interested in the benefits of biochar.

 

[HopeSprings]

I had looked at using biochar in my garden a few years back, but the cost was prohibitive. I'm curious now about the health benefits of mixing it in feed! Hmmm.....

 

[centrarchid]

I have been using biochar off and on since posting earlier in this thread. Soon an operation near me will be producing it on a nearly industrial scale. Some I have seen and been using has been reputed to be "organic" but I have reservations about about how much impurities are in the charcoal like benzene and other nasties. So far I have seen no health issue but there can be an increase in dust as feces breaks down and dries out.

 

[lynnrm1]

I would like to start using biochar to spread in the litter in my coop and run. Could someone reccomend which char I should purchase? I know the chickens will concume the char in the litter and i would like to stay organic. I am new to raising chickens and very interested in the benefits of biochar.

I would also love to know which char would be the best to purchase.

 

[ChicknChar]

I would like to start using biochar to spread in the litter in my coop and run. Could someone reccomend which char I should purchase? I know the chickens will concume the char in the litter and i would like to stay organic. I am new to raising chickens and very interested in the benefits of biochar.

I just read a research article that showed biochar had a number of benefits for a variety of animals. Chickens and ducks showed health and productivity benefits. It looks like a very small addition, like less that 1% by volume is beneficial. There is a gardening company that sell biochar at a reasonable price called TeaLAB.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I just read a research article that showed biochar had a number of benefits for a variety of animals. Chickens and ducks showed health and productivity benefits. It looks like a very small addition, like less that 1% by volume is beneficial. There is a gardening company that sell biochar at a reasonable price called TeaLAB.

Looks like the link isn’t working?

I’ve used biochar in the coop and compost when I make a batch. I imagine they may eat a little and I’ve seen many references to positive effects for livestock.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've read as number of studies, last time this came up. As indicated above, it appears to have minor benefits in improving bioavailability of some nutrients when added to feed at about 1%. On commercial scale, this may have value. For they typical BYCer - even for my flock of roughly 70, and 600# of feed per month?

The effort to make biochar FAR exceeeds the reported benefits.

And, as another poster alluded, your biochar manufacture concentrates undesired heavy metals or other undesired components present in your wood source??? That's a negative - a negative you can't know if you can't (very expensively) test your inputs. That they may be "virgin" and "organic" as mine are (I bought an undeveloped 30 acre property which has been in its natural state for a period exceeding local human record keeping) is irrelevant - the metal and mineral content of the soils is represented, to some dregree, in the metal and mineral content of the timber.

 

[centrarchid]

The biochar I used was based on Miscanthus. I do not know if Miscanthus bioaccumulates heavy metals more or less than a given tree species on the same ground, but the researcher involved was careful to ensure the heavy metals in biochar he generated was at acceptable levels.

When I played with biochar, first interest was not to benefit animals fed, rather it was to improve soil feces was incorporated into. This was to be done without harming animals. A problem I ran into with biochar in chicken manure was the dust. In my relatively open setting, the dust was not an issue. In a typical enclosed coop or indoor production operation the dust might be a real problem.

I still like its use with fish.

 

[annagoodspeed]

I make and use biochar from burning my annual slash pile of fruit tree and berry cane prunings. All you have to do is quench the coals before they all burn out. In order to do that you need enough water to rinse most ash off. I use it in the chicken bedding to inoculate it. The chickens free choice it. It helps some with absorbing ammonia.
I just love it. Been using it for 5 years or so, the garden just keeps getting better and better. I spread it on a few beds each year following a the four year rotation. The chickens are happy and vibrant.
I eat sooo many eggs and also all cockerels. I was concerned enough about any possible heavy metals around the place (historic apple orchard) that they could be accumulating to get a hair sample heavy metal test, and all was in range.

 

[annagoodspeed]

Oh, was thinking more about this, and using heavy metal bioaccumulated stock. I started using biochar as a soil amendment, and was kind of skeptical of using it as a feed additive because activated charcoal is used for acute poisoning, as it absorbs the toxins. I wondered if it would absorb and hold onto nutrients also. But in the garden it acts as a long term fertilizer? Would it release or hold heavy metals as it passes through an intestinal system? My brain kind of goes dead trying to figure it out.