EddieSalita
Songster
Hi,
Long time reader, first time poster.
I haven't seen this topic for a little while, nor discussed in too much depth.
I live on a couple acres in subtropical qld, Australia. Wife and I recently got 10 young point of lay white and black australorp hens after a few years without chooks. We moved them into our food forest. Chicken heaven basically.
I have been long aware that cassava leaves can be an excellent supplement for chooks. But of course it must be dried or cooked due to the cyanogenic glycosides.
Without thinking too hard, the food forest has a couple cassava plants in it. I thought it should be OK, they can't reach the leaves, and if they show too much interest, i will remove them. Also, chooks don't really eat things they shouldn't be eating if there is plenty other things they prefer. There is unlimited acess to mulch, compost, grass, weeds, pigeon pea, moringa, desmanthus, adlay grass/millet, scratch grain, warrigal spinach, qld arrowroot, brazilian spinach, guava, mulberry, a mix of laying and pullet pellet, bugs..... as I said, it's chicken heaven.
To my surprise I got home one day and they had completely stripped one of the cassava stems. About a small wheelbarrow full. They managed to climb it over and over until It sagged over and they stripped it bare. To the point where they even began stripping the bark from much of the stem. I thought they would be dead meat after that. But they were perfectly fine. There is another cassava just near the electric netting they cant get to. They will zap themselves repeatedly trying to get it. So I moved that one for now. Why do they choose the potentially toxic plant with such enthusiasm while having acess to so many other tasty treats.
I spoke to a workmate about it who has a property also, and is from Tanzania. He said feeding fresh cassava leaves was common practice in his homeland.
I'm aware of the studies online looking at the benefits of cassava leaf, and the mentions of the cyanogenic glycosides. However I've not been able to find much in the way of first hand accounts of people killing or making their hens sick from feeding them fresh, maybe no one is dumb enough to actually do it, maybe the levels in leaf isnt high enough to actually do harm?
I will stop for now, but will see if they go for some dry shredded leaf at a later time. But i will continue to research. My point and or question is, is it really that bad? My chickens are not only fine but thriving and seem to have a ravenous penchant for cassava, even considering all the other amazing foods they can acess. What is in it that's attracting them? There is something in it they desperately want to eat. Has anyome actually hurt their birds doing this?
Any experiences would be appreciated.
Long time reader, first time poster.
I haven't seen this topic for a little while, nor discussed in too much depth.
I live on a couple acres in subtropical qld, Australia. Wife and I recently got 10 young point of lay white and black australorp hens after a few years without chooks. We moved them into our food forest. Chicken heaven basically.
I have been long aware that cassava leaves can be an excellent supplement for chooks. But of course it must be dried or cooked due to the cyanogenic glycosides.
Without thinking too hard, the food forest has a couple cassava plants in it. I thought it should be OK, they can't reach the leaves, and if they show too much interest, i will remove them. Also, chooks don't really eat things they shouldn't be eating if there is plenty other things they prefer. There is unlimited acess to mulch, compost, grass, weeds, pigeon pea, moringa, desmanthus, adlay grass/millet, scratch grain, warrigal spinach, qld arrowroot, brazilian spinach, guava, mulberry, a mix of laying and pullet pellet, bugs..... as I said, it's chicken heaven.
To my surprise I got home one day and they had completely stripped one of the cassava stems. About a small wheelbarrow full. They managed to climb it over and over until It sagged over and they stripped it bare. To the point where they even began stripping the bark from much of the stem. I thought they would be dead meat after that. But they were perfectly fine. There is another cassava just near the electric netting they cant get to. They will zap themselves repeatedly trying to get it. So I moved that one for now. Why do they choose the potentially toxic plant with such enthusiasm while having acess to so many other tasty treats.
I spoke to a workmate about it who has a property also, and is from Tanzania. He said feeding fresh cassava leaves was common practice in his homeland.
I'm aware of the studies online looking at the benefits of cassava leaf, and the mentions of the cyanogenic glycosides. However I've not been able to find much in the way of first hand accounts of people killing or making their hens sick from feeding them fresh, maybe no one is dumb enough to actually do it, maybe the levels in leaf isnt high enough to actually do harm?
I will stop for now, but will see if they go for some dry shredded leaf at a later time. But i will continue to research. My point and or question is, is it really that bad? My chickens are not only fine but thriving and seem to have a ravenous penchant for cassava, even considering all the other amazing foods they can acess. What is in it that's attracting them? There is something in it they desperately want to eat. Has anyome actually hurt their birds doing this?
Any experiences would be appreciated.