Heating Effects of Corn on Poultry

[orchidchick]

Thanks. guys.....

 

[CUDA]

Thanks guys, you gave me something to think on. A couple of points I feel are worth mentioning, whether I am right or wrong... First, you have to know your particular breeds feeding requirements as well, some breeds are prone to getting fat easy, impactation, and require different protein levels. The other thing, is they way I understood it, and not claiming to know for sure, but I thought that the reason whole corn built heat in the body, is that it takes more energy to digest. This makes sense to me, as I can see that when I feed whole corn to my fowl, it takes much longer to go through the crop than crumbles. I don't know about all the other factors, the fiber and all, and that is why this thread intrigues me. It's nice to see a thread like this on here, good job guys and gals!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I suppose whole corn would take longer for a chicken to process, but I don't think that has anything to with the heat produced. The heat in the digestion process is produced by fermentation and breakdown of food by stomach acids. Since whole corn is less digestible (poorer feed conversion) I would think if anything, less heat would be produced, just because some passes through undigested. That is not to say you shouldn't feed them whole corn or that whole corn is bad for them, we mill it to get more return from our inputs, but mother nature has given them the equipment to handle whole grains, a gizzard, otherwise they would have had to run around in the jungle with a little portable roller mill and that just doesn't seem too efficient...

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Speaking of crops and gizzards, that is another topic that people get confused. Some think they are the same. Some think that chickens need grit and stones for their crop so they can grind up food.

A crop is just a storage bag for food that the chicken has picked up. Why? That's debatable. Not all birds have them. Most likely they store food so they don't have to continuously hunt for it and can spend more time in the nest hiding from predators and tending to eggs. From the crop it is passed to the stomach, as needed. In conjunction with the stomach is the gizzard which grinds the food. Grains and other hard particles can be passed from the stomach to the gizzard to be ground up and then back to the stomach for further digestion. They say a turkey gizzard can exert a pressure close to 500 psi and can crush whole black walnuts, glass, and small pieces of steel.

 

[12 Acres]

Quote:
Wow, that's an impressive gizzard! One of my former Australorp roos ate a piece of glass before I could get it from him and it passed through him without cutting him at all. Poultry have some pretty tough digestive systems!

 

[toredano]

I never gave it any thought about the corn and heat debate. Peopel have been feeding corn ot their chickens a long time and all year around.never ehard of a chicken dying from generating to much heat this way.
Now ..I know that with my horses and sweetfeed was a different story.But its not the body heat it turned up.. lol There was a markable difference in feeding the horse sweet feed and not feeding it. Energy level went up by around 30 % or so.

Thank you for making it clear and simple for peopel who still think its true


Petra

 

[speckledhen]

I'm happy I mentioned this old thread to someone (actually, it's a miracle that I remembered who started it, LOL). With summer here, it may help someone to know that they can feed some corn to their birds and not worry about it making them overheat.

 

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
Slightly different topic... I never said to feed them corn only. There were people here that were adamant that chickens should not get any corn or corn based scratch in hot weather, lest they burst into flames. Yet, half a layer ration is normally corn...

I am resurrecting this thread so people can read it and learn something - corn isn't going to make your chickens 'too hot', nor will they 'burst into flames'

Thank you, Mac, and LJFF&H, for shedding light on this issue, and the humor!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

At least they are being fed SOMETHING when they get scratch. Some folks expect to leave them out in the yard to fend for themselves.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
Heh, in the summer, mine practically do fend for themselves. I have a feeder in the coop that supposedly holds 7 lbs (I haven't checked by weight really) and I fill it with layer every week at the very most... they munch a little in the AM before I get the pop door open, but otherwise, they're out and about eating bugs and greens and other yummy things. I bring scraps and trimmings to them in the evening, and they get an occasional handful of sunflower seeds, and a cup or two of scratch here and there, but in the summer I barely buy feed.

I don't hesitate to feed corn/scratch ever, it's just that they're so happy with their summer diet I don't worry much. If they were in a penned up situation, I'd feed them more because it is their nature to 'scratch' for their feed and it provides them with a chance to dig around for their supper.