Beans for chickens?

[Lorridiane]

I have a bunch of dried beans. Can I cook them up and feed them to my chickens?

 

[elch]

yes you can. you could also just soak them in order to soften them

 

[Soltaria]

I've read that uncooked beans have a toxin that is not good for chickens. I think cooking them was supposed to neutralize it but I'm not 100% on that. Anyone else know anything about that?

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I offer cooked beans early to my chicks so they develop a taste for them, they are an excellent form of protein and I recommend you use them. My experience has been that they won't eat them if offered for the first time as hens. Or, they like black but not pinto and on and on.

 

[elch]

I've read that uncooked beans have a toxin that is not good for chickens. I think cooking them was supposed to neutralize it but I'm not 100% on that. Anyone else know anything about that?

I give my chickens uncooked beans now and I didn't have any problems.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They may not have gotten sick but they still ingested phytohemagglutinin (PHA/hemaglutin), a natural insecticide.

Dried beans need to either be soaked and cooked or sprouted to kill the hemaglutin.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One bite won’t kill them. Just because they ate a bean and did not immediately fall over dead doesn’t mean it’s safe to feed them dried beans. Eating uncooked dried beans is not good for people either. Cooking does change the chemistry, so cooked dried beans are safe for us and them.

There is a matter of dosage. One bite won’t hurt them. It takes a certain amount of the chemical to cause harm and it can be cumulative. It won’t hurt them to eat an uncooked dried bean or two occasionally but a steady diet or a large amount should be avoided.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Same with a lot of things people say not to feed chickens.

 

[elch]

They may not have gotten sick but they still ingested phytohemagglutinin (PHA/hemaglutin), a natural insecticide.

Dried beans need to either be soaked and cooked or sprouted to kill the hemaglutin.

don't add me to statistics, mine were soaked. I'm just wondering are all soybeans in commercial feed pre-cooked? If not it's not just my chicken not dropping over dead.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

don't add me to statistics, mine were soaked. I'm just wondering are all soybeans in commercial feed pre-cooked? If not it's not just my chicken not dropping over dead.

I didn't say soaked, I said soaked AND cooked.

Yes, all soybeans (and any other legumes that might be in the feed) are heat treated, usually toasted or steamed. After all, they wouldn't be in business very long if they killed all the chickens and turkeys.
The grains are heat treated as well, to kill fungus spores.

http://www.soymeal.org/FactSheets/processing3.pdf

I used to install equipment and program mills for most of the big poultry producers.