Red pepper flakes

[nuthatched]

I mix cayenne powder & red pepper flakes in with my chicken feed both are nutritious & birds cannot taste spicy. Some say it eliminates & controls worms.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. It's high in vitamins A and c though, in proper amounts. Though it can have toxic effects if there's too much.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Echoing others. Chickens don't have receptors for capsaicin, which is what makes hot peppers hot. They simply can't taste it.

The amounts one must add to the feed to have reliable and predictable effects and an antimicrobial is relatively high - not teaspoons per bag but more like 2% by weight, at which point it is:
A) not cost effective
B) displacing things of actual nutritional value
C) having statistically significant effects, briefly, on some microbes at rates which are measurable, yes, but not necesarily EFFECTIVE. Against certain e coli, its pretty effective as a control, reducing populations by about 75% - but not an effective treatment. against enteria, lactobacilli others the effect is 25-30% - possibly helpful, certainly not a cure.

It does, however, help tint eggs more orange, which the ignorant often mistake for sign of superior nutritional value (same reason some feeds include marigold).

Similar analysis for the antimicrobial values of various allium, thyme, oregano, others. Only in the case of alliums, the hemolytic properties run real risk of inducing anemia via red blood cell destruction.

and GOOD LUCK getting your birds to eat it. I have oregano, thyme, onions, scallions, and sometimes garlic in my garden. You know what my birds won't eat??? Thyme, Oregano, Garlic, Onions, Scallions. (they will sometimes eat a bug off an oregano leaf, and consume a bit of incidental greenery - but not in quantity sufficient to any dietary effect)

 

[Al Gerhart]

Now that is a well researched, well reasoned, and well written response.

 

[Altairsky]

I caught my chickens eating both my oregano and thyme plants in very small amounts. Those pests even eat potato leaves and onion, but refuse to eat more useful and nutritious stuff like for example fall web worms.

 

[Pigeony]

My birds love peppers in general and red pepper flakes specifically, they never turn it down. I sometimes offer a little pile just for their enjoyment and they will eat it just by itself. I do appreciate that it reddens the yolks, it just looks nicer. They clearly do not taste spicy because I've chopped up peppers too spicy for me to consume and they ate it without flinching with no issues. I think it does have a small positive benefit on their health even though I know many scoff at that. Capsaicin is known to have immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties in addition to being (negligibly) antibacterial. And peppers themselves are nutritious and antioxidant rich.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I caught my chickens eating both my oregano and thyme plants in very small amounts. Those pests even eat potato leaves and onion, but refuse to eat more useful and nutritious stuff like for example fall web worms.

I ONLY see mine eating it incidental to consuming bugs on the leaves. They do the same to my grape leaves (tannins in grape leaves are a real turn off). and to hit statistically significant levels of consumption, my birds would have to eat near 10 pounds of oregano each month.

I've got a lot of oregano - likely close to 100 sq ft or so (I'm using it as select erosion control) - I'd notice 10# missing. Thyme? Five plants, maybe 6 oz between them. They aren't doing well. If the chickens were eating them, I'd have none at all