The Reasons NOT to feed chickens green tomatoe plants or Dried Beans

[m2wandc]

Quote:
Kind of like people, those that grow up in the city or the country seem almost clueless when out of their element.

What's danger, what's not, etc...

 

[blasto]

Don*t know about the rest, but the rice thing makes no sense to me. I soak my rice overnight before cooking (I soak any grain I cook--supposedly increases your body*s ability to absorb the nutrients) and rice does not swell up. In fact, I would say it increases well less than 20% in size. The whole don*t throw rice at weddings because birds will eat it and explode thing is an urban legend. Dried corn swells a great deal more when soaked in water, doesn*t it? But there are folks here who swear by feeding whole and/or cracked corn. Then again, I*m not likely to feed my hens copious amounts of raw rice anyway. They just get my leftovers from dinner

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[raventearsx]

Wow, that is an epic list. I will definitely bookmark it for reference, though mostly I have relied on the birds themselves knowing what not to eat. Free ranging has its benefits. Thanks for the info!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Rice is not going to swell up and cause the chickens to burst any more than any other grain would. I have fed my birds raw rice many times over the years and they've scarfed right up. Not a lot of nutrients in polished rice but it won't hurt them.

.....Alan.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

raventearsx - so great of you to bring up this older post of Glendas, perfect timing with spring around the corner.
Anyone who has the opportunity to read information from Glenda's long years in poultry is very lucky and should take the time to do so. If you haven't yet found her recipe for probiotic mash, look it up and if you ever have a sick chicken - hope that she is online that day or drop her a PM, her advice is priceless and truly EXPERIENCED. If you're a newbie get used to her writing style and hang on to this name, you'll be glad you did.

 

[WriterofWords]

Don't tell my chickens that their treats are bad for them,, or they will turn into humans, realize it's bad, and get sick!

 

[Cindy in PA]

No one told my dogs NOT to eat tomato leaves! Also rice is in many pigeon mixes, so do they explode also???

 

[Chicken Chaperone]

Regarding uncooked rice and swelling up birds- www.snopes.com had this to say:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

For some reason the website won't let me cut and paste the article but the gist of it says that uncooked rice+birds=exploding birds=false
so it is not true. Just one of those nifty myths that got started, made a bit of sense and caught on but is, in fact, not true.

 

[Akane]

Most warnings of various things expanding in the stomach are false. Stomach acid is not water and even then you are putting the same amount of liquid in as it takes to expand the food items so in the end there isn't more in the stomach. It's just the liquid is now in the food instead of floating about seperately.

Just a thought, but I wonder if some of the things listed online (here and/or out there) are 'suggestions' (or beliefs) like eating "organic" is healthier

While I hate all inclusive "do not feed" lists for this reason plenty of things like potato peels and tomato plants do have proven toxins. If enough is eaten it could most definitely cause illness or death. That amount is also within the realm of possibility unlike the supposed cyanide in apple seeds which would take cups full of just seeds or entire buckets of apples to make an animal or human ill. All treat and feed/do not feed lists should include the reasons why or I do not listen to them anymore. There's far too many alarmists who fail to do research or randomly formed opinions on something being unhealthy. However when research shows that something can cause death in amounts that are not unrealistic for an animal to eat I do listen. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't or that there isn't some variable which makes it work out for you but end up killing someone else's animals if they follow your lead.​

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
If you stop & think about it, which people seldom do. rice doesn't swell when wet any more than any other grain. People routinely feed wheat, oats & other grains w/o any ill effect so why would rice be any different? Answer, it isn't. This is one of those enduring myths that has some people throwing bird seed at weddings instead of rice.
I always have fed tomatoes to the chickens with no ill effect. As to tomato & potato plants I've had chickens wander through the garden where they could have eaten these & have never seen them try. The plants have a strong odor & I doubt they're palitable. In fact I've pulled tomato plants at the end of the summer & tossed them into the run. The chickens polish off the remaining tomatos but don't eat the vines.
In many cases the toxins contained in various vegetables & fruits have to be eaten in very large quantities to be harmful. An example is apple seeds/ They contain cyanide but it would take pounds of seeds to come up with a lethal dose.

i always gave my birds ripe tomatos..
LOL me too o_o they never seemed to have problems

And they won't have any problems. One of the negative elements of the internet is that anyone can post anything they want-there's no universal editor or fact checker.​