Kikiriki
Songster
Spanish moss for chickens
I looked this up because it grows all around my yard and my three chickens gobble it up like candy. It is not toxic. It actually has health benefits.
It is not a true moss and is not parasitic to the plant it grows on. It absorbs nutrients from air and water.
The info was hard to find on the internet, most claims being that it has poor nutrition and no good qualities. False on both counts!
One supplement company uses it and says this:
The meat of the tillandsia plant in Spanish moss with a real coarse, fibrous core... (Spanish moss) contains a special type of vitamin E. Cap Monroe was a man who lived down in Florida, where Dr. Lee first heard about the plant. Cap was 135 years old when he died. Dr. Lee attributed Cap's longevity to the fact that he drinks tillandsia tea. He would pull the plant off the trees, make tea out of it and drink it.
Limited studies suggest that a substance found in Spanish Moss, HMG (3-hydroxy-3methylglutaric acid), may help to lower sugar levels in the blood.
Based on that, I went on google scholar and started looking at research.
There are several research articles investigating the very good antibiotic effect of Spanish moss, as well as its efficacy for diabetes.
According to this following source, spanish moss has the same chemical make up as other plants. Thus, it does have nutrients.
But it does absorb airborne chemicals, so the plant growing near a highway, factory, will have the toxins released from cars or the factory. From near the seashore it will have high salt content. Rural areas have normal elements found in other plants, unless they are downwind of a toxin source. So if you want to use it, you need to collect it from a safe area.
The source:
Airborne chemical elements in Spanish moss
[PDF] from usgs.gov
HT Shacklette, JJ Connor - 1973 - pubs.usgs.gov
ABSTRACT Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides L.), collected from its geographic range in Southern United States, was analyzed for 38 chemical elements in 123 samples.
wikipedia says it is high in calcium, but, given the above info, this seems entirely based on where the plant is found as it absorbs the nutrients available in rainwater, air, and what gets washed off the plant it is growing on.
It is a good source of fiber, and may be useful for feather pecking since feather pecking can be alleviated by providing an insoluable fiber source according to another study.
My hens can have all they want!
I looked this up because it grows all around my yard and my three chickens gobble it up like candy. It is not toxic. It actually has health benefits.
It is not a true moss and is not parasitic to the plant it grows on. It absorbs nutrients from air and water.
The info was hard to find on the internet, most claims being that it has poor nutrition and no good qualities. False on both counts!
One supplement company uses it and says this:
The meat of the tillandsia plant in Spanish moss with a real coarse, fibrous core... (Spanish moss) contains a special type of vitamin E. Cap Monroe was a man who lived down in Florida, where Dr. Lee first heard about the plant. Cap was 135 years old when he died. Dr. Lee attributed Cap's longevity to the fact that he drinks tillandsia tea. He would pull the plant off the trees, make tea out of it and drink it.
Limited studies suggest that a substance found in Spanish Moss, HMG (3-hydroxy-3methylglutaric acid), may help to lower sugar levels in the blood.
Based on that, I went on google scholar and started looking at research.
There are several research articles investigating the very good antibiotic effect of Spanish moss, as well as its efficacy for diabetes.
According to this following source, spanish moss has the same chemical make up as other plants. Thus, it does have nutrients.
But it does absorb airborne chemicals, so the plant growing near a highway, factory, will have the toxins released from cars or the factory. From near the seashore it will have high salt content. Rural areas have normal elements found in other plants, unless they are downwind of a toxin source. So if you want to use it, you need to collect it from a safe area.
The source:
Airborne chemical elements in Spanish moss
[PDF] from usgs.gov
HT Shacklette, JJ Connor - 1973 - pubs.usgs.gov
ABSTRACT Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides L.), collected from its geographic range in Southern United States, was analyzed for 38 chemical elements in 123 samples.
wikipedia says it is high in calcium, but, given the above info, this seems entirely based on where the plant is found as it absorbs the nutrients available in rainwater, air, and what gets washed off the plant it is growing on.
It is a good source of fiber, and may be useful for feather pecking since feather pecking can be alleviated by providing an insoluable fiber source according to another study.
My hens can have all they want!
