Milk for chickens

[Silverduck]

Hi All, I have recently joined this group, I live in Alabama, I have OE Silver duckwing bantams. I want to know if it is allright to give chickens milk.

 

[rosyposyosy]

nope.

 

[silkiechicken]

Some people do and some people don't. They don't have the enzyme to break down lactose but the calcium is good for them. Some give spoiled goats milk as it has fewer large proteins to break down and it is high in calcium. I personally have no experience with giving milk.

 

[picklespickles]

i know they do like yogurt. is it "okay" don't know.

 

[paganfish]

Quote:
I give my hens sour milk and they LOVE it...it's never been bad for them.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Quote:
I give my hens sour milk and they LOVE it...it's never been bad for them.

Hmmm, so now I have a reason to tie the cows with the chickens.

 

[kstaven]

Raw unpasteurized milk will not give chickens any problem at all. It is the pasteurized product that is problematic. For some strange reason people do not differentiate between the two products nor realize what is destroyed in the heating of milk.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
This is worse than pasteurized in my opinion and still has the problem of lactose (which is the main reason all vets say not to give birds milk) Milk will not "kill" your birds however it will affect their digestion causing diarrea and malabsorption of nutrients.
Yogurt is advised because of the probiotics and the process of creating the yogurt solves the lactose problem.

 

[kstaven]

I have to disagree diana. Raw product does not need the added culture to make yogurt like the pasteurized product does. The enzymes already exist in the raw product thus it is already geared to be easier to digest.

 

[spottedtail]

Right now I'm looking at a 1955 book titled "Feeding Poultry". It's very much in favor of milk for chickens.

Here are the first two paragraphs:
"Milk is valuable for poultry because of its vitamins, lactose, minerals, and proteins.
Skimmilk or buttermilk in any form provides riboflavin and associated factors which are very important, especially for growing chicks."

It goes on several pages from there...

I know of several old-timers who used to give milk to hens, but I'm not aware of anyone who does it now days.

spot