Vitamin C for chicken - i found this article, would like to share with you guys and listen to opinion.

[BackToTheBeginning]

From the post,
It mentions the important of Vit C for poultry.
Since Vitamin C is so cheap, why not ?

http://www.farmingchicken.com/866-the-effect-of-vitamin-c-on-laying-hens/

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

If you buy a good formulated ration for your birds all the vitamins should be in it at the quantities needed. It isn't practical for most poultry keepers to add daily vitamins beyond feeding a correct ration. Keeping extra treats to a minimum will help, as well as allowing birds access to range so they can forage for vitamin rich bugs, and greens.

 

[kerbotx]

That's kind of a sketchy website... Which doesn't mean that their information is incorrect, but I wouldn't trust it if I couldn't verify it elsewhere - lots of elsewheres. It did pique my curiosity; I don't care about increased egg production, but I am in Texas, so I'm always open to things that will help my flock deal with the heat!

 

[Folly's place]

Fresh dry feed, much easier! Wetting whole grain feeds is a good idea, but then it must be fresh daily. Fermenting feed is just more work than it's worth for me.
Mary

 

[Cazook]

if you don't have any sauerkraut the ferment will start by itself (there is lots of lactobacillus just floating around usually), just make sure that the feed is completely submerged in water. mix it with a spatula a couple times a day. it should start getting some bubbles and a sour-sweet grain smell in a few days. shouldn't be any mould or a bad smell. usually mould means that the feed was above the surface of the water too long (this can happen if it absorbs all the water, so add more than you think)

adding some sauerkraut juice in the beginning does take some of the guess work out of it though and speeds up the whole process. also once you have a batch of fermented feed going you can use the juice from that as your next 'starter'.

tbh i don't know if it's really worth it, but it puts the wild birds off eating the chicken's food so sometimes that is enough for me lol. i've heard it's also good for preventing sour crop (which seems to be due to yeast overload rather than sour-making bacteria, ironically >_>)

 

[Cazook]

chickens don't require any vitamin c in their diet, as they produce it internally (like almost all animals - except primates, guinea pigs, some bats, and of course humans )

i don't see any sources linked for the claims in that article. it is so poorly written that it looks like content mill or even bot-written stuff. remember anyone can write any old crap on the internet.

 

[BackToTheBeginning]

That's kind of a sketchy website... Which doesn't mean that their information is incorrect, but I wouldn't trust it if I couldn't verify it elsewhere - lots of elsewheres. It did pique my curiosity; I don't care about increased egg production, but I am in Texas, so I'm always open to things that will help my flock deal with the heat!

Heat! ah, that's one thing i want to have it here (in Germany). I used to raise chicken , 200 over layers at Paso Robles.. Every summer, i have to change the water 3 times, as water warms up..

 

[BackToTheBeginning]

feed, there is surely very abundant vitamin C even if none was present initially. Sauerkrauts have some ten times the vit.c of or

Speaking of fermented feed. I saw quite a lot of people doing fermented feed, said it will increase absorption of 18%..
However, i am considering, if just soak the whatever feed mix for 3 days.. isn't mold and bad bacterial also thrive ? and hence, isn't that bad for chicken as well ? i mean, feed got fermented (good for absorption) but bad bacterial and mold also proliferate , so how can that be good ? unless one pour in EM so that good bacterial take over the whole thing..

 

[Cazook]

I don't know about that.. as i just bought a bottle of poultry vitamin supplement for feed.. there is vitamin C listed in it.. I mean if chicken produce vit c internally, why should the complete supplement for poultry include vitamin c ?

probably cause it's an antioxidant? good for sick chickens. but healthy ones don't need it.

kinda like the difference between deciding you need x and x supplement that might have studies showing it improves your health, but you'd do fine on normal human food. as in... chickens can't get a vitamin c deficiency. it's not an essential vitamin to them. they don't have scurvy, and they won't get bleeding gums even if they never touched an orange in their days.

 

[Folly's place]

Adding extra doesn't make sense, it's about having fresh water and a fresh balanced diet available all the time!
Mary