How young can I feed yogurt?

[jzarabs]

I have some 5 day old chicks that I just picked up...my question is, about once a week I give my older girls a yogurt/veggie treat and some cottage cheese too. Are these little guys too young to get yogurt and other treats?

 

[ERnoleGuy]

I was told that you can give yogurt (preferably the plain yogurt) at any age. It is very good for their digestive tract due to the Probiotics as I am sure you know. I have read about people using that, mixed with some cornmeal and/or powdered mash to get their struggling youngins (a few days old) to perk up and get them eating.

I was told to go easy on the cottage cheese b/c chickens can't process dairy... but my chickens seem to love the cottage cheese and have no ill side effects. And if they can have yogurt, why not cottage cheese. Can anybody share some documentation on lactose digestion in chickens?

Main thing to remember, make sure their starter crumble makes up at least 90% of their diet. No more than 10% treats, etc.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

It was recommended to me to add yogurt to their starter to deal with Pasty Butt and that was in the first week, so I don't think it's ever too early to start plain yogurt with active cultures.

Mixing it in with the food seems to make it more palatable to them.

 

[ShaggysGirl]

I had a sour crop problem with two so all got yogurt from day three

 

[LauraSBale]

make sure theres not a lot of sugars in it

I get Brown Cow, but i dont use yogurt that much, I use probics, goats prefer has a good one, in comes in tub and it a powder, you can sprinkle it on there food or put in the water, i use the one that has the electrolytes in and it has 4 different strain of acidodifuls (Sorry the spell) in it. then they have thats all probic

 

[jzarabs]

Oh good! I wanted to give them a treat to bring them 'out of their shell' so to speak (haha!) their a little shy with the change in homes, etc.!
I did mix a little in with their crumbles, we'll see how it goes! I always get the plain organic yogurt for them and even found low-salt cottage cheese, probably doesn't matter about the salt, but it was cheaper too so that's what I use!

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
I've heard this on here several times before and it makes NO sense to me!

Yogurt IS dairy! If dairy is so bad for chickens, why in the world do they benefit from yogurt?

I feed mine yogurt/starter mash mix after they're about a week old or so. Sometimes I run oats through the food processor until they're powdered and then mix that with yogurt. Yummy stuff, or so it seems to be

 

[ERnoleGuy]

Quote:
I've heard this on here several times before and it makes NO sense to me!

Yogurt IS dairy! If dairy is so bad for chickens, why in the world do they benefit from yogurt?

I feed mine yogurt/starter mash mix after they're about a week old or so. Sometimes I run oats through the food processor until they're powdered and then mix that with yogurt. Yummy stuff, or so it seems to be

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Happy Chicken Mama]

We feed as day olds until about six weeks a combination of:

Oatmeal (that has been finely ground and then cooked in hot water) (about a cup cooked)
Yogurt (about a cup as well)
Vitamins (just a smidge)
Peanut Butter (about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup) &
Honey (about a tablespoon)

It's so good that whenever my mother in law sees me making it up in the morning she gets in there and spreads some on her toast!

We do the all organic thing with them as well so all of these in gredients for us are that... but could be the walmart variety as well.

After a few weeks we start to put starter feed in with the mixture and gradually increase until six weeks or so (or until I get tired of making a batch everyday!). We have bantam cochins and silkies and have found that the little guys are too tiny to get enough of the starter. Also, it makes their feathers just shine!

We also feed it to any new chicken while they are in quarentiene. Nothing makes a new chicken love you more than giving them this everyday.