SERIOUS!! Food and Fruits that you should never feed your poultry with for quality production
We all know that feeds for chicken is very essential for their body and health. Especially when you are owning a large farm and you raising it for great purposes, you must always be conscious and careful in choosing of their feed. But when you are a total beginner on raising a chicken, or you are just a chicken lover, you maybe confused on what is the right food for them. There’s a lot of feeds for them that can be bought in the market, but of course, there is a lot of food also that may harm your chicken if they eat it by accident and this is not a very good start for you. so here are some foods that can be harmful and give a great toxic on your chicken.. You need to avoid it.
AVOCADO This fruit including the pits(big round seed) and skins contain the toxin Persin(Fungicidal toxin found in avocado) and according to the Merck Veterinary Manual: “Ingestion of avocado has been associated with myocardial necrosis in mammals and birds. Cattle, goats, horses, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, sheep, budgerigars, canaries, cockatiels, ostriches, chickens, turkeys, and fish are susceptible. Ingestion of fruit, leaves, stems, and seeds of avocado has been associated with toxicosis in animals; however leaves are the most toxic part.”
WHITE POTATOES- cooked or raw, skins or flesh, which are part of the nightshade family and contain the toxin Solanine( Glycoalkaloid poison). Solanine destroys red blood cells and can cause diarrhea and heart failure. It is sometimes killed by cooking at high heats, however boiling won’t reduce the solanine levels. Best to stay away from all parts of the white potato including the vines and leaves. (Note: Sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory family, not the nightshade family, and perfectly safe to feed to your chickens.)
TOMATO AND EGGPLANT – both of which are also part of the nightshade family and potentially toxic. Green tomatoes and immature eggplant flesh should als o be avoided until ripe, when the solanine isn’t present any longer in amounts that are of as much concern.
APPLE SEEDS- (also avoid pits/seeds from apricots, cherries, peaches, pears and plums which contain trace amounts of cyanide) but the fruits are all fine cored.
RHUBARB LEAVES- This is also toxic to humans and animals. And the entire plant contains oxalic acid, which can lead to soft-shelled eggs. So best to avoid rhubarb.
RAW DRIED BEANS- Which contain phytohemagglutinin (PHA/hemaglutin), a natural insecticide that can be harmful unless the dried beans are soaked and then properly cooked. Once cooked, they are fine to feed. Interesting note, sprouted beans are fine for your chickens. The act of sprouting also kills the hemaglutin.
ONIONS– Which contain a toxin called thiosulphate hat destroys red blood cells. Excessive amounts can cause jaundice or anemia in your hens or even death. Some claim that onions will taint the taste of your eggs as well. We can’t validate that claim because we don’t feed them to our chickens. We don’t recommend feeding onions because any possible health benefits are far outweighed by the potential health risk.
(One thing to note: Garlic, which is in the same allium family as onions, contains only 1/15th of the thiosulphate as onion does and has some truly amazing health benefits. Once processed, powdered garlic has only negligible amounts of thiosuplhate in it, so I feel very comfortable adding garlic powder to our chickens’ daily feed in the amount recommended by the experts.
CHOCOLATE, CAFFEINE and TEABAGS – should never be fed to chickens and chocolate also contains the toxin methylxanthines theobromine(Bitter Alkaloid of the cacao plant) which should be avoided.
The next set of foods are good in limited amounts only.
CITRUS – This fruit thought to interfere with calcium absorption, leach calcium out of bones and contribute to thin-shelled and fewer eggs, so don’t feed citrus fruits regularly. My chickens actually won’t eat any type of citrus fruit – and they usually know best, so just skip the orange sections! Although if there are a few in a fruit salad you share with the chickens, don’t worry about picking them out.
SPINACH -The oxalic acid in spinach can also interfere with calcium absorption, so spinach – while super nutritious – should be only an occasional treat.
ICEBERG LETTUCE- It has very little nutritional value and can cause diarrhea in large amounts so you need to limit feeding this to your chicken. Far better choices are leafy greens such as cabbage, kale and collards.
Limit the white rice and bread as they have very little nutritional value. Instead whole wheat products are far more nutritious. Dairy products including yogurt, milk and cheesecan give chickens diarrhea since they aren’t designed to digest the milk sugars, so go easy on the dairy if you notice it’s having a negative effect.
Remember, a toxic substance does not mean that it will immediately kill the bird that consumes it. Many toxins build up in the system and signs of distress take awhile to be apparent. Symptoms can range from hemorrhaging, internal congestion, visceral gout, diarrhea, convulsions, kidney failure, a rapid heartbeat or poor egg quality and quantity, all depending on the hens’ overall health, condition, age, size and what and how much is eaten how often. Toxins often shorten lifespans considerably if fed over time, or lessen quality of life.
Most of the time chickens will avoid things that aren’t good for them, but if food is scarce, or it is included in with other things they normally eat, they can’t always be trusted to steer clear. Additionally, treats of any kind other than so-called ‘green treats’ such as grass and weeds, should be limited to no more than 10% of your chickens’ diet. So do your chickens and yourself a favor and avoid feeding them any potentially ‘toxic treats’ and stick to healthy Treats.
Take Note: All of the above foods are either bad for your chickens’ systems OR can actually be toxic in large enough amounts. So be careful.
