Is it alright to feed my chickens fruit pulp?

[Geant]

I juice fruit every morning with breakfast and hate throwing out the pulp. I was curious to see what pulp would be alright for them to eat? I'm sure apples are alright, but what about oranges, pineapples, and the more acidic fruit?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

You'll have to experiment to see which ones they'll eat and what they won't but moderate amounts of fruit pulp are fine.

 

[spartacus_63]

I have heard that citrus should be limited with chickens, BUT, I can tell you that my girls love oranges. We squeeze oranges from time to time and throw the halves into the chicken yard. They go nuts over them and it is fun to watch. Kinda like a chicken rugby match complete with a scrum.

 

[Geant]

Gave the girls some apple pulp this morning and they inhaled it. I'm glad to know it's alright , but I'm still skeptical about giving them citrus pulp. I'm afraid it might upset their stomachs. Do your chickens ever have problems after they eat oranges Spartacus? Thanks for the help y'all.

 

[donrae]

Remember, chickens have different digestion than we do. They don't have stomachs, their crop grinds food down for further digestion. I've fed my chickens everything I've eaten and they've done fine. I know some chickens won't eat citrus, but then again, some people won't either

I'd say anything you're going to juice, give them the leftovers.

 

[DIYSeattle]

Our chickens eat about everything that we do. We have fed ours pulp from juice making and they have eaten about everything that they were given. Sometimes they wont eat something but it gets composted by them and no harm no foul.

Our friend makes juice and it seems like a really big waste of food to me, for a few glasses of veggie juice there was a grocery bag full of pulp. I have been talking to them about using the pulp (you use oranges) from the juicer to make something else with it, like they do commercially. Im sure that all that apple pulp gets put into apple cookies, and sports bars. It doesnt go to waste.

 

[spartacus_63]

Do your chickens ever have problems after they eat oranges Spartacus?

No Geant, the only complaint I ever get from the girls is "is that all there is." I had been feeding them orange halves for quite some time before I read that citrus pulp wasn't good for them. Needless to say, I got a chuckle out of reading it. One thing I have found is that there are a ton of "stories" about what is not good for chickens. I have found most of them are not accurate. As one of the others posted, somethings may not be good for all birds, but I have found mine won't eat that which they don't like. BTW that list is very small. This one kinda reminds me of the cedar chip as litter debate. Some say it is toxic to chickens, I have not found that to be true.

I find it hard to believe that chickens who love tomatoes would have a problem with oranges. I would recommend that you feed it to them in monitored amounts until you determine if it would cause a problem and at what level.

Remember that happy chickens make tasty eggs.

 

[chisandchicks]

My friend said that my girls should not have the peels from anything; I know about potatoes, but I had no idea they couldn't have the peel from cukes! I use them a lot (they are on sale quite often right now) and my girls love the pieces I save for them. Can I give them the peels to or not? Also, it is getting hot here in Az. and I know that soon I will not be able to feed regular scratch. Can I mix rolled or crimped oats (or...?) to what scratch I have left and serve that to them?
My husband and I are enjoying our girls sooooo much! I mean, I just never thought I would see my husband sitting in a lawn chair enjoying his off time watching the chickens "play"!!!
He didn't even get angry when I brought home 5 more chicks; couldn't help myself! I saw my mom's Silver Wyandotte and fell in love so I got 2 of those and then there were Speckled Sussex's so I had to have 2 of those and there were some Moran's and I just had to give 1 of those a try (I usually get 2 of each just incase one doesn't make it, but I was running out of $.)
Guess I'm a little "chicken happy", eh? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[EricaD]

We juice every day and keep a big bowl on the counter for the pulp, and any other scraps and leftovers that accumulate each day, then it goes to the chickens first thing each morning. They love it! I include everything you could imagine (including cucumber skins!) and they eat what they like (most everything) and leave behind anything they don't, which just composts itself on the ground. Old milk, yogurt, leftovers from our plates, juice pulp, veggie skins, scraps of meat, etc. The only things I can think of that we don't give them are bread/bread products and citrus peels (apart from the little bit of lemon skin that's in the juice pulp).

Plus, my husband works for a school district and the cafeteria lets him take all the leftover salad/raw veggies each day that would otherwise be thrown out! Some goes to our guinea pigs and the rest to the chickens - they're insane over broccoli and cauliflower, OMG. It's like chicken crack.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

I toss it in the compost and they just dig through it and take what they want.