Guinea pig food?

[1newchickontheblock]

I got an awesome homemade guinea pig cage I'm going to use for a brooder - I also got along with it quite a bit of guinea pig( food )pellets. Should I just pass these along to a guinea pig owner, or is this something the chickens (when they get a little older) can eat? (Just found a great chart on treats and things to avoid, and thought I'd ask about this... )Thanks for the info!


The chickens are coming! The chickens are coming!!

 

[Imp]

If it is old, I wouldn't use it. Check the list of ingredients to see if there is anything harmful to chickens. Even if there is not I would only give small amounts. If you are not sure- give it away.

Imp

On second thought- If in doubt, throw it out.

 

[Akane]

Even if it's old I doubt it's harmful. I use old rabbit and guinea pig pellets in the winter to help provide some greens. Guinea pig pellets have no risk of antibiotics or anything medicated like rabbit pellets can contain. It should contain nothing but grains, hay, and a few vitamins. Unless it got wet there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Just make sure they have grit.

I would not give it to anyone with guinea pigs. 90% of the pellets out there I wouldn't feed to a guinea pig and I wouldn't feed any with an unknown mill date or storage method. Guinea pigs need certain vitamins like C which are easily broken down if pellets are not stored right, get too old, or are cheaply made. While it would do no harm to your chickens since they are not relying on the pellets for their diet you could end up killing someone's guinea pig pretty easily.

 

[1newchickontheblock]

Thanks - it seems innocuous enough- exp date is 7/2010 - it has alfalfa, soybean, corn, wheat, animal fat, tocopherols, and vitamins and minerals. I was just thinking of using as an occ'l supplement, but maybe I'll just throw it in the woods and let the squirrels and bunnies have it...

 

[dntd]

I would soak them and feed them as a treat.