Feeding bread to chickens?

[bawkbawkbawk]

Some complex carbohydrates can be difficult for chickens to digest. Of course they will happily eat bread, but, as @RUNuts said, it can lead to obesity and other health issues in excess.

We have a strict no-bread policy for the girls, but I doubt small amounts would cause any problems. The only bread we eat is our homemade sourdough... It's so good we make use of every last crumb of it (literally)! There's nothing left over for the chickens even if we were inclined to let them eat some bread

Thanks for this reminder not to over-do the bread!

 

[jreardon1918]

Any leftovers that don't get saved for us, go to the chickens. That includes a bit of bread. Everything in moderation. And it keeps feed cost down.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Well yes. That had been my experience also until this flock. Maybe because I had 4 of them eaten by something out here in the country and we have bobcats, tons of hawks, foxes and other meat eaters here. And the others watched?? I don't know.

Anyways, that partially eaten carcass was to much for them. Totally freaked them out. Maybe it still looked too much like a chicken. They would not touch it. I left it there for a while thinking they would get over it, but after a few tentative pecks, they all avoided it like it was a snake. My other flocks have all loved the leftover Costco chicken carcasses and I tend to leave it in the black pan that they come in for ease of delivery, so they look like a chicken carcass - again, my other flocks all just eat them up. This flock won't - they know I am their treat feeder also and always go to whatever I throw out there and are so excited for their scraps. I don't know. I just know that this flock won't eat a chicken carcass. Let me clarify that that will eat any other form of leftover chicken I have given them.

Wow sounds like this flock might have some PTSD. Time to call in a cluckologist.

 

[Gitana]

A friend gently admonished me for giving pieces of bread to the ground birds on my property.

Later that same day I was handing out bits of pizza crust to my hens, who voraciously gobbled it up but then I suddenly worried I was harming them by giving it to them

I honestly worried that I would find them sprawled lifeless in the coop the next morning. Death by pizza crust. But they were fine.

Are chickens different from other birds when it comes to diet? Is their digestive system different?

Mine are dying one by one and it happens to be after I feed them bread. Coincidence? They are 1 yr old dark Brahmas. Today found another one dead. Last week I found anither dead and From our video camera it just flapped wildly on it’s back and died. Maybe liver popped. Bread can cause this if they’re too fat.

 

[RUNuts]

Mine are dying one by one and it happens to be after I feed them bread. Coincidence? They are 1 yr old dark Brahmas. Today found another one dead. Last week I found anither dead and From our video camera it just flapped wildly on it’s back and died. Maybe liver popped. Bread can cause this if they’re too fat.

Are you Performing a necropsy?

Hatchery birds have reproductive issues that result in lash eggs & infection. Looking inside can tell you for sure.

 

[RUNuts]

If they get bread daily, it’s coincidental.
But the bread will contribute to obesity & other issues.