Feeding yogurt as a first snack

[OwensMom]

TrystInn Just emailed the maker of the culture that I use. When I get a response I'll post it. Guess that we need answers once and for all.

 

[lorain's fids]

Yogurt (plain) is the"only" dairy product birds should consume. This being told to me by my Avian vet. Yogurt is a fermented dairy, and the live cultures is beneficial. But anyways as a first time snack, I did give my 6 chicks a little plain yogurt , mixed with some of their food yesterday and they HATED it. They had more fun running through the yogurt which I had placed on a plastic lid.

 

[OwensMom]

TryatInn
" Thank you for contacting us regarding our FAGE Total Product.

Our yogurt does contain lactose, as all yogurts do.

On whether or not to consume our product you should seek expert advice from your doctor and/or dietician."

TrystINN you were right!!So now we know that all yogurt contains lactose. next question should we feed it to chickens?

Lorain's fids vet says yes. HMMM My chickens have never gotten sick on it and I feed it a couple times a week. Quandry

lorain yogurt is an acquired taste for chicks. I catch them cleaning it off of their toes!!

 

[Erica]

As I see it, the idea that they're 'lactose intolerant' is a bit of a trendy grab. Lactose intolerance in people leads to various issues like bloating, and this is where the term comes from, but there's no evidence that chickens suffer these effects unless someone feeds them pasteurised whole milk or a lot of powdered milk (in which case they do get diarrhea). Low lactose products should be fine.

Powdered skim milk has also been used as a treatment for cocci. There is good science for this, though it's not widely recommended (probably because it's only of limited benefit).

Farmers have always given lightly soured milk to poultry. Souring (e.g. kefir) removes a large majority of the lactose while providing probiotics.

It's fair enough to say high amounts of lactose from straight milk (or possibly yoghurt) can be harmful to birds, but one can find science to support many different approaches, including judicious soured milk feeding. Science works by excluding variables, but life has variables.

Everything is toxic at some level. If the benefits (e.g. probiotics, calcium) outweigh the negatives then (unlike a true poison) it has a place!

Edited to add:

By the way, apparently the probiotics in yoghurt don't survive to colonise the digestive tract. They can stop other unhealthy bugs from doing so (which is a good thing) but they tend to die off themselves. Have you thought of using kefir? Apparently kefir probiotics are much hardier and can colonise the gut (good for artificially brooded birds that aren't getting probiotics from mom)...

cheers
Erica