How Much Bread is To Much!!

[biophiliac]

No I was not asking about just crop impaction----just saying I have heard of it.

Just for info, at my peak some time back it was costing $200+ per week to feed the flock---I Love "playing with the chickens" and wanted to step back up the numbers with the flock. I know of 2 people that raise a lot of animals and they say the chickens are only fed bread, BUT free range in the pasture's behind the cow's etc. A little scratch some time. I asked both at different time if they felt feeding a lot of bread was healthy for the chickens----they both said the same thing-----"I been doing it a long time and they look fine" LOL. I know neither have researched the good and bad. AND I do not have cows for them to dig through the "Chips". I have a chance of getting a lot of bread/sweet cakes so I was just seeing if anyone had done any research on this. Sure I throw the chickens scraps and older bread---never much because with so many chickens at times a few pieces don't go far. SO, if I get in on the Bread deal----I was trying to do some research to see ---How Much is To Much??

If it was me I would avoid the sweet bread, once someone gave my chickens a whole Carrot Cake!, with cream cheese frosting without my knowledge. when I came to feed their fermented food in the pm..I saw they had picked off all the frosting and there are only 5 of them. I was horrified - they survived and thrived.

 

[Kiki]

If it was me I would avoid the sweet bread, once someone gave my chickens a whole Carrot Cake!, with cream cheese frosting without my knowledge. when I came to feed their fermented food in the pm..I saw they had picked off all the frosting and there are only 5 of them. I was horrified - they survived and thrived.

You sound like me...I would have killed them! lol
I'm really enjoying reading all these studies I'm finding...not just about bread.

 

[biophiliac]

IKR! I love reading all the "sciency" stuff too!

 

[PD-Riverman]

you mentioned bread and sweet bread.
you got a nutrition label for these breads that I can read too?

Not yet, but think---what goes out of date for a big bread company like Sunbeam---might be many things, types of bread, sweet cakes, honey buns, donuts, etc, BUT I was not planning on give them much sweet stuff---mainly loaf bread. Instead of taking a 1/2 loaf from my kitchen to divide with 150 chickens---LOL-- to maybe 10 or 20 or 30 loaves----LOL, trying to find out----how much is to much???
I did give about 40 of them about 1/4th of a big white icing sheet cake a couple days ago---there was some of it left the next morning----but it was gone later.

 

[Kiki]

I may need to research how must sugar is too much too huh?

 

[Kiki]

http://articles.extension.org/pages/68178/basic-poultry-nutrition
for me and who ever else needs something more to read.

http://articles.extension.org/pages/68432/common-feed-ingredients-in-poultry-diets

http://articles.extension.org/pages/66921/antinutritional-factors-in-feed-ingredients

 

[Ridgerunner]

I noticed that sweet cakes thing too. That gets back to the type of bread and it's nutritional value. I don't think a small amount of sweet cake would hurt but I'd be concerned about large amounts. I'm thinking fatty liver syndrome and other obesity problems.

For those two that feed bread, what kind if productivity are they getting? How much bread are they feeding? Chickens can pretty much fulfill their nutritional needs from foraging in a rich foraging environment. Depending on the quality of the forage productivity may suffer greatly. But if the overall feed costs are basically zero, you may be OK with lower productivity.

Just asking how much is too much without considering what else they are eating is a lot like asking how high is up. There is no answer to that. And you have to factor in your goals. I believe chickens can live on a diet that is mostly bread. Dad used to raise baby chicks he got from the Co-Op on nothing but corn meal until they were three or four weeks old and could be set out to forage for themselves. Did they grow as fast and feather out as fast as chicks fed a Starter diet, of course not. But they grew and did OK for his purposes. I don't feed mine like that but I could. it doesn't suit my goals.

 

[azygous]

Adding my own experience to this thread - I avoid feeding bread except as a very occasional treat. The carbs in bread is so high, I feel it endangers the efficient functioning of crops and intestines, not to mention disturbing the nutritional balance of nutrients chickens need for good health. (It affects humans in a not-so-good way, too.)

Some years back, I cleaned out the fridge after thanksgiving, feeding the flock a large amount of turkey stuffing. What followed were a few cases of sour crop in hens and a case of compacted crop in the rooster.

Now, they only get a few pizza crusts on rare occasions, which they all adore, but is not enough to disturb the good flora in crops and intestines.

 

[biophiliac]

Do they free range on pasture PD? Be sure to get some nutrition labels on the bugs for Kiki!

Awaiting the report...

 

[biophiliac]

I just remembered another offering from the 'carrot cake person'... a 5# bag of pancake mix! on the theory that 'it's mostly corn anyway' (?!?). Just tore the bag open and left it in the run. I took the uneaten portion away and hid it. Expired baking mixes may be available too.

I bet they would just love carrot muffins.