Sweet Potato?

[1hawaiian]

Anyone feeding their chckens sweet potato?

Do you cook the leaves and tubers before feeding?

 

[kari_dawn]

I feed cooked sweet potato...but I remove the skin and other growing parts. Sweet potato is in the morning glory family, and I think those parts may be toxic?

 

[grawg]

I fed my ducks sweet potato vines last year with no problems. And I would throw in a couple pounds of the vines at a time after harvesting the tubers. Sweet potatoes leaves, while in the morning glory family, are actually edible for humans as well. I had them in a few salads and used them as a replacement for lettuce in the heat of summer when lettuce typically doesn't do so well. Just as a personal preference I use the younger leaves as they tend to be less papery and tough.

Before I fed my ducks the vines I scoured the internet and found some study where sweet potato vines were used in a field experiment in Africa as an alternative to traditional feeds. From what I can recall, the sweet potato did not work as well as traditional, but since I'm not exclusively using them I figured it couldn't hurt to supplement with them.

Also, normal potato are in the nightshade family and the leaves/vines are toxic in sufficient quantity.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

My ducks get the peels, and seem to prefer them cooked. (Brats.)

 

[1hawaiian]

Thank you folks I appreciate the replies

 

[Linn Bee]

I cook the sweet potatoes for myself so the chickens only get the skins and left-overs. I cook the whole potato so they are eating cooked skins. I also cook squash for them from time to time. They love those, too.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

My chickens get the cooked peels after I'm done eating them, they also enjoy the cooked tubers.

 

[1hawaiian]

GREAT!!!
I appreciate the replies!!!