Spicy food

[jolly wattles]

Apparently my hens love a plate of leftover white beans and cornbread with a side of boiled cabbage. What was interesting tho was the fighting over the sliced pieces of spicy Cajun sausages that was in the cabbage. They went nuts for it playing keep away. Question is does spicy food mess with their digestive system?
One odd footnote: for 2 days prior to this Charlotte seemed to have a messed up crop but after a hour or so after eating off this plate she was back to her normal self.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting question. The reason they love the sausage so much is that it is meat. It doesn’t matter if it is cooked or raw, fowl, pork, beef, or anything else, toss them meat scraps and stand back. I recently tossed a cooked and carved turkey breast carcass in the run. It didn’t take them long to strip it.

Chickens cannot taste hot spices, they don’t have the taste buds for that. They don’t know if it is hot or not. But that is not your question. What does it do to their digestive track? I don’t know. Some people feed hot pepper to their chickens in the hopes that it will prevent or cure them of worms. I’m not a believer in that, but you can find a lot of people on this forum that do. I think the hot spices have the potential to temporarily disrupt the chickens digestive system just like it can yours, but it will do no lasting harm. If you feed it to them regularly they can probably develop a tolerance for the pepper so it doesn’t bother them at all.

You did no harm and I’m sure they loved it.

 

[jolly wattles]

Cool. Thanks!

 

[snow5164]

I add cayenne pepper and garlic to fermented feed when it's raining and damp outside. I figure if it keeps their breathing clear it's worth it.

Only negative is the fermented feed smells so good I want some

 

[jolly wattles]

I've never used fermented feed.

 

[snow5164]

No?
I started two years ago when I noticed my chicks kicked out more food then they ate.
Being the true Mennonite I am and very cheap, I looked into a way to save feed costs.

I have settled on a trough ( literally a plastic rain trough with ends glued on), full of layer feed for them 24/7. And I bring each coop out a quart jar or two of fermented feed each morning.

It's really easy ,
Just add warm water to your feed, let it sit 3 days or until it smells like yeasty pizza dough . Put it in a dish ( pie plate for us), and watch them go!! Start the next batch ....

It's really good for them and gives you a vessel to add things ..... garlic, parsley,chili peppers ,sprouted lentils , oats...

 

[jolly wattles]

No?
I started two years ago when I noticed my chicks kicked out more food then they ate.
Being the true Mennonite I am and very cheap, I looked into a way to save feed costs.

I have settled on a trough ( literally a plastic rain trough with ends glued on), full of layer feed for them 24/7. And I bring each coop out a quart jar or two of fermented feed each morning.

It's really easy ,
Just add warm water to your feed, let it sit 3 days or until it smells like yeasty pizza dough . Put it in a dish ( pie plate for us), and watch them go!! Start the next batch ....

It's really good for them and gives you a vessel to add things ..... garlic, parsley,chili peppers ,sprouted lentils , oats...

I understand the wasted feed part which is why I'm making them a pvc feeder with trough today. I literally just walked out of home Depot.