Feeding chickens raw milk

[Lothiriel]

Well, now that our cow Daisy is giving so much milk (2 1/2 gallons a day vs. 5 cups AM and 4 cups PM - reason: her calf is gone), we have plenty to feed it to our animals as well.

Is there a certain way you all who feed it to yours like to do it? I was thinking just putting it in an extra waterer, or in a dish of sorts, and just letting them drink it that way. They loved the yogurt we made (but sort of ruined). My sister suggested mixing it with their grain. I'm a little leery of that because if they don't like it that way, there's a bunch of wasted grain, and grain's not cheap. Any other suggestions? How much should I give them?

 

[blueid10]

I'd recomend putting a little in a bowl in their coop and leave it for about an hour for them to try. Mabe add some red food coloring for good measure?

gosh i love that smiley.

 

[Chris09]

I think you will be fine at a little at a time. I split a gallon of milk that I get from one of our goats between about 20 birds. ( 1/2 gallon in the morning 1/2 gallon at night )
I also at times make a wet mash out of the milk and the morning feed and feed that to them...


Chris

 

[Akane]

Raw milk is fine. Pastuerized store milk is actually not good for any animal but raw milk still contains everything needed to help digest it. I would make sure though not to leave it more than 24hours and less if it's really hot out. A waterer would work fine provided they will either drink it all or you'll dump it and rinse it at the end of the day.

 

[Pine Grove]

Pastuerized or raw..I'ts better for them if it is left out for a couple of days...

 

[Akane]

Pastuerized lacks the enzymes and bacteria to properly age like raw milk will. The pastuerized just goes bad and isn't really good for anything. I know raw milk aged beyond what humans wanted to drink used to be an important food source for chickens before the widespread use of commercial feeds. I would not expect the same results from store milk though and I do not suggest giving it to any animal irregardless of the condition it's in. Nearly all animals lack the ability to digest it properly. Mammals may even suffer nutritional deficiencies over time from intestinal inflammation in reaction to the fats and sugars in the milk.

 

[LAMchop]

I give extra milk from our cow to the chickens. Most of the time I mix it with some layer pellets and let it sit until the pellets have absorbed all the milk and are mushy- it's less messy to feed that way. Sometimes they get a bowl of milk only, but they get so excited about it and always find a way to tip it over.