What is with fruit and layers?????

[BAYAREABIRDER]

Meyer said in their catalouge that feeding fruits would affect hens, and it would take 6 weeks to recover!! I guess that it is not true! Do not feed citrus to your birds, or avacado!!! It is not good for their tummies!!! Lets keep this thread going to see how much treat and food info we can get!!



BAB

 

[Kim_NC]

We grow and purchase a lot of fruit for canning and jam making. So although we have fruit and fruit scraps available, I only feed it in very limited amounts. For example - the equivalent of one grape per bird per day.

Although fruit is a healthy treat, it has no protein. Protein is a key ingredient to egg production. Same with vegetables, although chickens won't gorge on greens and other veggies near as much as they do fruit.

I try to feed no more than 10-15% of our flocks' total feed in treats/goodies each day. Most of it being vegetable or meat scraps, never all fruit.

We also feed higher protein layer pellets (20%) to keep the treats from dragging their total protein below 16% (a minimum for best egg production). Our flocks also have pastured areas to range for bugs, greens, etc.

I don't understand Sue Weaver mentioning bugs as something that would upset nutritional balance (and therefore egg production) in Hobby Chickens. Bugs are protein. Does she offer any additional comment about that?

 

[harewizard]

I asked this question a while ago... about fruit and layers.

It seems the answer I got was too much of anything is not good.

Use common sense- Fruit as a treat and keep your protein ration at a good level for layers, and you should be OK.

I've feed my girls, bananas, apples, grapes, yougurt, bread, and they never missed a beat... er, I mean egg!

 

[Far North Queenslander]

Kim_NC is on the money. We've fed scraps for 30 years and had no issues. Garlic once a month is a great natural wormer. Fruit seeds and Avocados have never caused issues. Feed in afternoon and in moderation. Too much will limit the protein uptake and egg production drops. Make sure that scraps are from fruit and veg that was washed - poisoning from chemical residues is often the real cause of sick birds. Interesting use of flax seed is in feed for birds to produce eggs high in Omega. Canadian egg board site used to have info.

Our birds don't show any interest in stone fruit seeds and the chemical precursor in apple seeds is also found in almonds; it needs damp conditions to activate. There's probably more arsenic naturally occurring in their water supply. Don't sweat it . Remember they're chooks! They were designed to eat this stuff.

 

[DukeDawg528]

I have heard that fruit makes them quit laying for a while...

 

[JenEric Farms]

Quote:
I'm pretty sure she meant along with everything else listed...so, if you let your chickens forage all day and then feed them lots of "treats" they are not going to get the correct nutritional balance needed to keep up the normal egg production.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i've noticed that most of the items on the list of no-no's are the same things you cannot feed to dogs, and cause the same type of disorders/deficencies(sp?) in both types of animals.

 

[crumpet]

Fruit is all sugar! There is nothing there the chicken can use for laying. When I cut back on the fruit treats, production went way up...

 

[DawnSuiter]

I'm so glad I read this thread!
Ever since the strawberries came into season, my chickens have been slacking! No more strawberry scraps for those girls.. or the chicks! Sheesh! What was I thinking?? Back to eggs and sunflower seeds for treats.

and here I was thinking it was getting too warm or something, even though the weather is FABULOUS!

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
I'm pretty sure she meant along with everything else listed...so, if you let your chickens forage all day and then feed them lots of "treats" they are not going to get the correct nutritional balance needed to keep up the normal egg production.

That makes sense....Thanks!