Yep we throw everything in with the chickens - they love curried beef and pork, they are not overly fond of green pepper but like red and orange pepper.
Yes, I agree there's a lot of info online but not all is bad. When more than 2 or 3 articles agree & explain why a food is beneficial or risky it helps owners make choices. & chickens are usually smart enough to know what their body needs but maybe not so smart about sugar ~ just like humans teehee!
nions
The onion thing is a puzzle to me.Yes, I agree there's a lot of info online but not all is bad. When more than 2 or 3 articles agree & explain why a food is beneficial or risky it helps owners make choices. & chickens are usually smart enough to know what their body needs but maybe not so smart about sugar ~ just like humans teehee!
Vitamin C may help w/bacterial infections but not viral diseases & would have to eat so much of it in foods compared to taking a single supplement pill.
Personally it would bother me to know citrus hinders egg shell formation or messes w/digestion in hens (citrus hinders calcium absorption in humans & pharmacies warn patients not to eat citrus w/ meds.) And this all only shared as my choice.
Found a another supportive DVM site re
https://chickendvm.com/poisonous/onion
Tx ~ a hen that ate supposedly toxic tomato leaves from the garden bed all her life lived to 11 yrs ~ we kept vines netted but these chickens are sneaky & don't always avoid ingesting foods bad for them.
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Caution ~ that's a good word. Onion I know for sure the vet doesn't endorse. It almost seems that the same foods risky to dogs & cats are also risky for chickens.
I thought this was an interesting read but it's in french and it's not a scientific source. It's about garlic but it does explain part of those opposite viewpoints. Here it is through goggle translate :
The article on DVM states 'toxic at MORE than 0.5% of a chicken's body weight.' So, if you have a 5lb. chicken, that means feeding them more than a ,025 lb of onion! Since most sites say that a standard sized hen should eat somewhere between 1/3 & 1/2 lb of feed - that would be MORE THAN 1/2 OF THEIR FOOD INTAKE that day to be toxic. While I would never give them close to that, a smal amount that is mixed in with other foods, and is part of a 'treat' - so in addition to their balanced feed - it would be far less than that.
That is exceptionally helpful. It aligns with where I had got to with my own research but I was getting bogged down and gave up!
Thank you - this was wonderful, and clears up a lot of the confusion - at least for me!
I was doing the math wrong in my head and was off by a factor of 10.The article on DVM states 'toxic at MORE than 0.5% of a chicken's body weight.' So, if you have a 5lb. chicken, that means feeding them more than a 1/4 lb of onion! Since most sites say that a standard sized hen should eat somewhere between 1/3 & 1/2 lb of feed - that would be MORE THAN 1/2 OF THEIR FOOD INTAKE that day to be toxic. While I would never give them close to that, a smal amount that is mixed in with other foods, and is part of a 'treat' - so in addition to their balanced feed - it would be far less than that.
All I have read, Onions have more of the chemical that can be 'toxic' than garlic.
Benefits of Garlic in Livestock & Poultry
Garlic: Antibiotic Alternative in Poultry
This was known even 50 years ago: Garlic study from 1987
Of course, it took gov. legislation before the industry moved away from anti-biotics - and only AFTER there was much developed resistance due, in part, to excessive use as a preventative & growth booster in poultry and livestock. Better living conditions instead of huge crowded poultry houses and packed 'feed lots' would have greatly reduced their 'need'
EDITED: Was posting this while ManueB was posting - theirs is a much more informative and useful post!
