What NOT to feed a chicken

[digitS']

A leghorn type hen eats about one-quarter pound of feed each day.

one-quarter pound of cornmeal has about 440 calories
one-quarter pound of chicken feed has about 320 calories

I think that's about all there is to the "heat" issue with regards to corn.

Steve

 

[spook]

Quote:
in the summer it creates body heat and your poultry will over heat and can die.
Fresh corn is fine.
Avacado is toxic to a canary, along with chocolate, and a few other things. Look up what you can feed them, etc. Good luck!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

This is the bottom portion of the Treats Chart page:

Don’t feed the following things to your chickens:

(I'm sure people have experienced exceptions to this list, but if we want to raise our birds the best way possible, "better safe than sorry".)


Raw green potato peels: Toxic substance called Solanine.

Anything real salty: Can cause salt poisoning in small bodies such as chickens.

Dried or undercooked Beans: Raw, or dry beans, contain a poison called hemaglutin which is toxic to birds.

Avocado Skin and Pit: Skin and pit have low levels of toxicity.

Raw eggs: You don’t want to introduce your chickens to the tastiness of eggs which may be waiting to be collected in the nestboxes.

Candy, Chocolate, Sugar: Their teeth will rot… No, it’s just bad for their systems, and chocolate can be poisonous to most pets.




A quote from Nifty-Chicken, the Administrator of BYC:
"I gave up on my birds knowing what was best for them when I caught them all eating a block of Styrofoam pellets."




Regarding toxicity, the following is copied from a post by DLhunicorn on May 14, 2007 in a thread titled "Potato Peels". (Thank you DLhunicorn for your tremendously helpful and knowledgeable contributions to BYC!)

"Do not count on your chickens "knowing" what is bad for them...also do not count on these "toxic" plants immediately being identifiable by finding a dead bird the next morning...usually it is a slow process damaging organs , inhibiting the ability of your bird to utilize the nutrients in their feed, etc.

http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html
Toxic Plants

and here are some more sources for toxicity:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.c … 1165263379

http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is1214.htm
(Feed Chickens Properly)

here are some of my collected articles on nutrition :
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.c … 1157992073

http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.c … snutrition
(factors contributing to nutritional disorders)"



* Regarding feeding CAT FOOD to chickens,

the following is from DLHunicorn in response to the listing of cat food in this Treats Chart: (A word to the wise, and thank you, DLHunicorn)

"You all know how I feel on cat food and I have posted the links and reasoning behind my objections several times ...it can potentially be detrimental to your birds health and even deadly in the right circumstances and for this reason I feel it should be left off the chart (as when you put it on it is as if you are condoning its use) I will repost here one of the sources for my objection:
http://www.omri.org/Amino_acids_livestock.html
..."While it is nutritionally essential, methionine excesses are far more toxic to poultry than similar excesses of tryptophan, lysine, and threonine (National Research Council, 1994). Force feeding methionine to excess can result in death to chicks (National Research Council, 1994). A dosage of 2 g / mature cat / day (20 to 30 g / kg dry diet) for 20 days induces anorexia, ataxia, cyanosis, methemoglobinemia and Heinz body formation resulting in hemolytic anemia (Maede, 1985). ..."

 

[ravenfeathers]

Buff Hooligans, that's a great comprehensive links list! thanks for the research (and search!)

 

[Lobzi]

Quote:
My neighbors see me collecting pill bugs (Chickie loves them and they are plentiful around here) from under their flower pots. Not sure what they think about me!

 

[rooster0209]

Will chickens roaming in my yard, know what they should and should not eat? I have quite a few of these plants and weeds in my yard and on the farm.

Its easy to not purposely feed them things they shouldnt have.

 

[digitS']

Quote:
Quite a few of what plants??

 

[dangerouschicken]

My only rules:

No rhubarb. No potatoes. No sugary/salty foods. No chicken.

We just use common sense on the rest. Never had issues and my chickens eat LOTS of our leftovers.

 

[pierce652]

I have feed the girls avacado a few times now with nothing bad happening. They will pick the skin clean and then leave it alone.

I have been giving them a bit of cracked corn in the mornings more for them to have something to do...scratch and peck. Is there anything better to give them instead since its pretty hot here?

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Are Tomato Hornworms safe for chickens? I have found several great big ones chowing down on my tomato plants and without even thinking it through, I plucked them off and tossed them to the chickens. No damage to the birds... so far.