Topic of the Week - Heat Sources: Yes or No?

[Debbie292d]

Ai is often wrong about many things. Feeding corn outside of their normal feed won't provide much if any benefit, their normal feed will provide them with carbs as well and won't throw their diet out of balance. A little cracked corn won't hurt them but too much will cause them to put on too much weight and/or cause other nutrient imbalances (extras like cracked corn should be no more than 10% of their diet) if they need more carbs they will simply eat more feed

When we got into breeding silkies around a decade ago, most of whom free range, I learned they needed to eat their feed to get the nutrients they weren't getting from bugs and weeds. Giving them other things was filling them up for nothing, and they would become vitamin-deficient. Silkies are already prone to vitamin deficiencies, so I have to be careful about what they eat.

We then switched from a 5-grain scratch treat to Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve, a layer feed, with corn as the first ingredient. But at least they are getting a fully nutritional treat. Their feed is Kalmbach's Flock Maker. First ingredient: corn.

I've seen necropsies where there was a layer of fat around all of the organs. To each their own, but I think it's healthier to lay off feeding them very much additional corn beyond what's in their feed.

 

[Knobby]

Not to argue, but just showing it depends on the source: ChatGPT says this:

​

1. Corn does NOT create heat — digestion does, and corn is not a high-heat feed​

Chickens produce heat through specific dynamic action (SDA)—the heat generated by digesting food.
Proteins create the highest heat during digestion.
Carbohydrates (like corn) generate very low digestive heat.

Hierarchy of heat produced during digestion:
Protein >> Fiber > Fat > Carbohydrate

Corn is almost entirely carbohydrate, so its heat of digestion is minimal, not high.

2. The “heat” people talk about is​

Corn is energy-dense, yes—but energy = calories, not heat.
Feeding corn gives calories that can be used to maintain body temperature but does not itself cause extra heat the way protein digestion does.

If the bird is warm enough already, those calories are simply stored as fat.

This is why:

• Corn fattens chickens.
• It doesn’t noticeably warm them.

3. Winter warmth comes from​

If you fed:

• corn
• wheat
• barley
• oats
• or any other grain

…the bird gets calories to maintain body temperature.
Corn is not special. It’s just commonly fed.

4. Poultry nutrition science disproves the “corn makes heat” claim​

Research consistently shows:

• Protein raises body temperature due to high SDA.
• Fat and carbs (corn is carb-heavy) produce little heat during digestion.
• Birds can maintain body heat in winter by eating more of any feed, not corn specifically.

So the claim misinterprets a real phenomenon (thermoregulation) but assigns the wrong cause (corn).

5. Where the myth started​

Corn is often fed in winter because:

• It’s cheap
• It’s palatable
• Chickens gain fat from it
• Fat is insulation

People saw chickens stay warm when fed corn and assumed the corn caused heat, but it’s actually:

More calories → more fat → better insulation,
not
Corn → heat production.

False claim: Corn helps chickens produce heat because it is energy-dense.
Facts:

• All feeds provide calories. Corn is not unique.
• Carbs generate low heat during digestion.
• Protein is what produces significant heat.
• Corn helps chickens stay warm only because it increases caloric intake, not because it generates heat itself.

No I agree with you Deb...it's the metabolism of converting a high carbohydrate grain to energy that help keep them warm..no arguments here. I was just curious to see what AI would say and just posted what I got.

 

[Knobby]

Ai is often wrong about many things. Feeding corn outside of their normal feed won't provide much if any benefit, their normal feed will provide them with carbs as well and won't throw their diet out of balance. A little cracked corn won't hurt them but too much will cause them to put on too much weight and/or cause other nutrient imbalances (extras like cracked corn should be no more than 10% of their diet) if they need more carbs they will simply eat more feed

Oh I agree, I feed them their normal feed twice a day, and give them crack corn before lockup to help them stay warm, is all that I was saying. Sort of like when I feed them scratch..i'm not saying I feed them exclusively scratch during the cold season, just as a before bedtime snack.