Single hen

[annepet]

Hi - our chickens arrived a week ago, and they mostly seem to be doing fine. I was just wondering whether or not they'd be OK to eat our son's leftover muesli - complete with milk - or are they better not having any milk?

 

Anne

[chocchick]

I don't think they can digest dairy, but I'm sure small bits with mainly cereal would be OK occasionally.

[The Dogmother]

Mine seem to be ok with odd bits of dairy - I'd go ahead.

[Jools]

Apparantly they cannot digest milk, but tiny bits won't hurt them. I'd be a bit more worried about the hidden contents of the muesli - check for added salt and sugar as neither are good for poultry. Bet they'd enjoy it though!!

[The Dogmother]

Mine have had the odd crumbs of cereal and cheese and been fine. As Jools says it's ok so long as you don't make a habit of it.

[Egluntyne]

people are often advising bio yoghurt as a pick me up for hens......I don't see that milk can be all that different.

[Jools]

It's just something I discovered on the P P forum. I've fed mine bio yoghurt for years as I thought it was good for them - I probably still would after antibiotics to restore the gut flora.

 

There's a great long (argumentative!!) thread on the subject in the feeding section, but here's a couple of quotes from it ......

 

Milk products should not ideally be fed to birds at all. The carbohydrate in milk - about half of the solids of full-cream milk - is mostly lactose and birds do not have the enzymes required to digest it. In a worst case, lactose can get "stuck" in the gut and ferment.

In truth, the cahnces of mishap are tiny, but why bother taking that tiny risk, especially as it is of such little food value?

Incidentally, cheese is mostly fat and protein - lactose is very water-soluable and so is removed with the whey. Most birds (most animals????) love cheese. This is probably why soured milk (starined) is/was fine as poultry feed.

[annepet]

Thank you - at least the muesli is fine - definitely no hidden salt or sugar - it's homemade.

 

But I'll stick to trying to get the children to eat it up!

[Jools]

Whoops - didn't mean to insult your home made muesli - sorry

[annepet]

Sorry Jools - I didn't mean it like that (Actually I can take absolutely no credit for it - my husband (JohnP - also around this board) makes it - I can't touch the stuff as I'm Coeliac!)

 

Anne