Why is citrus bad for chickens?

[twincreekfarm]

i gave my chickens some leftover veggies from my chinese food (green peppers, carrots and pineapple) not thinking, duh, pineapples citrus! But they loved it! No affects or difference in poo or eggs. I think in moderation it could be given as a treat.

 

[egglady]

Twice a week, I get a big ol' bag of vegetable & fruit pulp (and other veggie trimmings) from a friend who uses one of those juicers for her family. Usually it's mostly carrot pulp and pineapple pulp, with orange sections, bananas pieces, and some additional salad trimmings.

The chickens go wild over it! Some of them don't care for the citrus or pineapple, some don't care for the bananas, but for every 1 fussy eater, there are 6 that will eat ANYTHING.

I've found that sometime you have to experiment not only with different foods, but with giving them foods in different ways. I throw larger carrot pieces into my food processor for a few seconds, since they don't seem to like picking at the bigger pieces. And even chickens that won't eat small carrot pieces or carrot peelings will scarf up the carrot pulp from the juicer like there's no tomorrow.

I've also found that if there's a veggie they don't like, they will sometimes eat it if it's cooked slightly first. I got a bunch of leftover pumpkins from people's fall decorations, but they weren't interested in the raw pumpkin. So I cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, and baked the pumpkin halves, then cooled and put the seeds back in the halves. The girls go nuts!

I saw another thread that cautioned against feeding cabbage, but I've always fed cabbage (raw and cooked). They love it, and I've had no ill effects.

 

[Gonzo the Great]

Coffee grounds? Grapefruit? Don't let McDonald's hear about this or they may develop a bird to lay the perfect breakfast egg...

 

[bamagirl68]

thought this was a funny one!
Echinochloa crusgalli (BARNYARD GRASS); plant may contain toxic levels of nitrates

 

[picklespickles]

okay.i realized i never did try this the other day with coffee grounds. i will try both as is and then mixed in with everthing else to see.

 

[picklespickles]

okay i just tried a mixture of grounds, sunflower seeds, pickling seeds, leftover cornmeal and leftover oil. the goats were interested but the chickens were asleep and it was too cold to spend time to wake them up. i just tossed it from the window and we'll see later what got eaten.

 

[NYREDS]

If you can eat it your chickens can eat it. Like people some may like one thing better than another but to the best of my knowledge there is no "people food" that's harmful to chickens.

 

[KeliD]

I gave my chickens some oranges, pineapple and tangerines that I cut into quarters. The hens absolutely loved the pineapple and one of my roosters took an orange wedge with him to visit the neighbors hens on the other side of the woods.

I give my hens lots of fruits and veggies and it does not seem to affect their laying.