SMALL YOUNG OAK TREES IN THE RUN - What about those acorns??

[MIKE555444]

These trees are very small at this point but I was thinking these could provide some good shade in the future. Will the acorns form the oak trees effect the chickens? I don't think they could eat them being acorns are pretty big? What if I added turkeys to this run later?

Thoughts?

 

[TexasVet]

I had my run under a HUGE oak tree that dropped acorns by the bucket. Never saw my chickens or turkeys eat any, but if they did it didn't hurt them.

I'm sorry now that I moved the run to another area with smaller trees. With the record-setting heat we've been having, my poor hens could have used the extra shade!

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com, www.PivotalForce.com

 

[NYREDS]

Wild turkeys eat Acorns all the time. Early American farmers gathered Acorns to feed their pigs.

 

[LynneP]

Seveal parts of oaks, including acorns, are toxic to most small livestock-


Sometimes they are not eating the acorns, but splitting them for grubs inside...

You can check at this Cornell site for specific species of plants toxic to small livestock

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/comlist.html

 

[briznian]

During WWII there was some experimentation with using acorns to supplement chicken feed in Britain because of shortages and rationing. It appears to have worked well enough but then the war ended and so did the experimentation.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0P...cken feed acorn&client=firefox-a&pg=RA1-PA186

The toxins found in oaks are called tannins and can be leached out via soaking whereupon acorns are then safe for human and other livestock consumption. It appears however that the leaching process is unneeded if you want to feed them to poultry.