feeding Chickens Black pepper

[SilkieChickenLover336]

Ok so i have 4 pullets and i want to try this but i dont know what to feed them and how much to give them. Could someone please PM me about the measure of pepper intake.

 

[cjwaldon]

Seems those who have tried it ranged from a few tablespoons to 1/2 cup pepper daily. I don't recall how many birds though. I only tried it once with approx. 1 tablespoon for 27 birds (25 hens, 2 roos). You mix it in with whatever they love to eat, like popocorn or oatmeal.

 

[Granny Hoffman]

I have been giving mine cayenne pepper for about a week. I was ranging anywhere from 8 to 10 eggs a day. On Monday I collected 7 eggs and yesterday a wopping 17 eggs were collected.

I'm not sure if it was the cayenne pepper or they just decided to get busy again. I have seen a little increase in their water consumption. I haven't had that many eggs since the beginning of the month, so we will see if the pepper did it or not. Their morning treat usually consists of layer pellets, oatmeal, cayenne pepper and water, This morning they got layer pellets, cayenne pepper and some canned tomatoes. Hopefully they keep on the same track, my customers are wanting eggs.

Granny

 

[SilkieChickenLover336]

How mich pepper do u give them like how much per bird

 

[Granny Hoffman]

I have 25 layers right now and I usually would give them about 3/4 cup of cayenne pepper with their morning treat. They always get their layer pellets with their morning treats to make sure they weren't just getting *junk food*. They gobble it up.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Try not to "Burn out your chooks!" LOL

This concerns me too as I read these posts (although I am trying the pepper boost using tabasco sauce). I've read that a hen only is able to produce a certain number of eggs during her lifetime (depending on the breed). I want my hens to lay over a long period of time since they will not be killed once they stop. There is no need to have them lay every day so I intend to use this pepper thing (if it does indeed work) only after they molt.

 

[daddy_roo]

SilkieChickenLover336

After doing the conversion of Pepper per bird, it came out to 1Tbs per bird. After I concluded my little experiment I realized that it does not really make them lay more eggs but as stated kind of jump starts them to laying. It is the increase in water intake that causes them to lay.

cambriagardener

Everyone raises chickens for differant reasons. My original intent when I very first recieved my chickens was to have enough eggs for me and my family to eat. After I caught the "fever" I want to make a small profit on my chickens. I know it is not a get rich thing just mainly enough to pay for their own feed and anything extra is just great. So mine are not as much pets as they are friendly livestock. I have dual purpose birds and will eat them as well. I guess the saying differant strokes for differant folks definately applies here. I do not criticize anyone for keeping them as pets. I can definately see how chickens would make great pets.

To everyone that has followed my trial and errors on this post, thank you and I have learned that the pepper does not increase egg production but more or less stimulates how often they lay. It would be a great jump start for moulting birds. to get them back on track to lay.

 

[SilkieChickenLover336]

Thank you! Ill probably start this in either mid winter or the end

 

[epeloquin]

I have six girls that are about 8 mos. old. The first one started laying at 20 week and the others started following her up to 25 weeks. The last two started late Sept/early October so they relly didn't lay consistently before shortened daylight hours began to affect my production. By the time I got to about ten days ago I was getting 2-3 eggs per day then it dropped to 2. I started giving them about 1 tsp of pepper mixed in with the bowl of feed I leave in their coop each night for their 'breakfast'. We normally let them out between 8:30-9:30 so this is the first food they eat each day. I have noticed a marginal increase in water consumption but I am now getting 4 eggs every day and this has been for about a week now.

Whatever the cause, it works.

 

[CrazyCatCulby]

I am going to try this out for myself. I am going to pop up some plain popcorn and dump a few tbsp.'s of pepper on it tomorrow and keep a close eye on their water. Hopefully I will get three eggs instead of just two! (I have only three chickens-two barred rock hens-Thelma and Louise- and an old english game bantam hen-Lucy)