You ask: “We need advice from experienced poultry farmers - can chickens be given raw potatoes? This year we simply have an unprecedented harvest; I don’t remember that we got so many potatoes, although we planted them as usual. It would be good, but there are a lot of tubers spoiled by dry rot. They are not suitable for storage, and we simply won’t have time to eat them ourselves. So I thought, what if I rub them on the bird? Will it be eaten, and isn’t it harmful? Maybe it’s better to cook it after all?”
We answer: Natural vitamin supplements for chickens are garden crops. It is cheap, natural, and healthy for the bird. Pumpkin, zucchini, overgrown cucumbers, carrots are favorite delicacies of birds, but is it possible to give raw potatoes to chickens? On the one hand, the pulp of root vegetables is quite juicy, it diversifies the “dry” grain diet and should appeal to the bird. But will the raw product harm her digestive system? Let's figure it out.
Feed costs for 10 laying hens:
- we bought a bag of crushed grain in different mixtures of oats, corn, wheat, barley, seeds, which was enough for about 2 months
- and a bag of whole wheat – for 4 months
- We periodically bought crushed shells as a source of calcium. It's inexpensive. Sometimes they recruited her on the coast for free
- sometimes they bought seed cake and added it to the grain, 50 rubles. per bucket, enough for a long time
The cost of one bag is 550 rubles. Based on this, you can calculate the amount of expenses for grain, because it was the main expense item.
Of course, in addition to grain, there were also expenses once a year for straw, for restocking, and medicine, but as a result, these expenses were paid off by the high quality of domestic eggs. You can't buy such delicious eggs in the store. And according to my calculations, the cost of eggs was no higher than store-bought ones. I wrote about this in a note: Is it profitable to keep laying hens.
Beneficial features
Potatoes lose most of their vitamins when exposed to heat treatment. But raw vegetable tubers contain many useful substances:
- Vitamin C is an antioxidant that removes toxic substances from the body. Takes part in all metabolic processes of tissues. It has a positive effect on egg production and promotes the formation of a strong shell.
- B1 is one of the most important elements for maintaining healthy chickens. Takes part in the formation of all tissues in young animals. It has a positive effect primarily on the state of the nervous and digestive systems of birds.
- B2 – takes part in protein and fat metabolism. Promotes rapid growth of chickens and increases egg production in laying hens.
- B6 is an essential element that influences the course of all metabolic processes in the body. Responsible for the health of the skin and promotes good egg production in chickens.
- PP is an element involved in the process of hematopoiesis, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Improves digestion, the condition of poultry feathers, and increases the egg production of chickens.
Potatoes, both boiled and raw, are a source of vegetable protein, which is necessary both for the full development of young animals and for increasing the egg productivity of laying hens.
Potatoes also contain minerals in easily digestible form: salts of phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chlorine, iron, magnesium, sulfur. All these elements are necessary for chickens to produce eggs normally.
The introduction of potatoes into the diet of laying hens helps replenish the bird's daily need for vitamin C by almost 100%, potassium by 50%, phosphorus by 15%, calcium by 3%.
Based on the chemical composition and listed properties of the vegetable, giving potatoes to chickens is not only possible, but also necessary.
How does green potato solanine affect the body?
Solanine has a local irritant and resorptive effect. Once inside, it causes inflammation of the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines; after absorption into the blood, it excites and then depresses the central nervous system, hemolyzes red blood cells, and when excreted from the body, it affects the kidneys and skin, especially in chronic cases.
The diagnosis is always made based on the results of chemical and toxicological studies of feed, drinking water and samples of pathological material. Among the characteristic microscopic changes in the organs and tissues of animal corpses are:
- damage to the mucous membrane of the oral cavity, esophagus, stomach and small intestines
- filling of the abdominal vessels with blood
- multiple drip hemorrhages
- dystrophic changes in internal organs, especially the liver, spleen, kidneys
- accumulation of fluid (transudate) in the chest and abdominal cavities.
Solanine poisoning in animals can occur in three forms:
1) Gastrointestinal form of intoxication. It manifests itself as anorexia, depression, disheveled hair, diarrhea, watery, foul-smelling feces, mixed with blood and mucus. Saliva and mucus are released from the oral cavity. Animals mostly lie down, which causes bedsores to appear.
2) Nervous form of intoxication. It occurs due to the resorption of solanine, which enters the nervous tissue and has a pronounced toxic effect. This is manifested by depression, lack of response to external stimuli, paresis and paralysis of the posterior part of the body and pelvic limbs. Some animals exhibit increased motor activity.
In both forms of intoxication, an acceleration of respiration and pulse is noted, and body temperature is normal or reduced. Death in the nervous form occurs within 18-24 hours, in the gastrointestinal form - depending on the level of intoxication. Some animals die within 48 hours, but with timely treatment they recover.
3) Cutaneous form of intoxication. It is characterized by a chronic course. The first signs of poisoning appear weeks and even months after the start of feeding. Ulcerative stomatitis, conjunctivitis, vesicular and scab-like dermatitis are observed on the limbs, udder, scrotum, near the root of the tail and anus.
Why do chickens eat polystyrene foam and is it harmful to eggs?
As you know, chickens are not smart animals and can consume useless or even harmful substances. This also applies to polystyrene foam, to which birds often have free access, because the material is used to insulate outbuildings.
What can you give chickens to eat?
Polystyrene foam is a building material that contains chemicals, so if it enters the stomach, it can harm the entire digestive system. And chickens are curious creatures and peck at everything that catches their eye. Given that this building material has an interesting shape, it is not surprising that it attracts birds.
Important! It is necessary to try to exclude access to polystyrene foam, because its use often leads to the death of the bird.
Why are potatoes harmful to chickens?
Giving raw potatoes to chickens and peeling them is not recommended due to the large amount of resistant starch in the thermally untreated product. It impairs poultry digestion and leads to gastrointestinal disorders.
Feeding chickens with thermally untreated tubers is prohibited. In 100% of cases, such a product provokes diarrhea in young animals.
It is forbidden to give green potatoes to chickens. Under the influence of light, the poison solanine accumulates in such tubers, which gives the spoiled vegetable its characteristic color. Such potatoes can provoke severe poisoning of the bird and cause death.
This also applies to potato tops, which also contain a large amount of solanine.
What to give to laying eggs
The benefits of the food consumed largely depend on the cleanliness of the feeders. That’s why it’s so important to clean and dry them daily. In addition, feeding birds in winter and summer is different.
We also recommend that you read the description of the Brama breed.
In winter
In winter, the diet of laying hens should include the following succulent feed:
- zucchini;
- pumpkin;
- carrot.
When feeding broilers, it is necessary to grind the feed using a knife and a meat grinder. You can also give boiled potatoes. It must be thoroughly crushed and added to the mash. It is also necessary to place sunflower cake into the mash. Thanks to it, the chicken’s body will be saturated with protein and fat.
Grass
Green feed is the most important component of the diet of your broilers. As noted above, you can start giving grass from 2-3 days of age. In addition to the beneficial nettle already mentioned today, dandelions, clover, and alfalfa are suitable for broilers. Fresh grass is crushed and given to young birds at the rate of 6 g per bird per day. Lettuce leaves (contain a large amount of iodine and other useful trace elements) and onion greens are also useful for young birds.
Onion greens are also given as a preventive measure for intestinal disorders in chickens. As they grow older, starting from 3 weeks of age, grass for growing broilers is no longer chopped, but given in bunches that can be hung from the cage or placed in feeders. It is very good if your birds have the opportunity to go for walks and peck various grass on their own. If you adopted broilers in winter or early spring, when there is no greenery on the street yet, you can use grass meal for feed.
It is given to chickens that have reached 5 days of age in an amount of no more than 3 g per bird, the dose can gradually be increased to 5 g. Too much grass meal is not given, due to the fact that it contains a large amount compared to fresh herbs fiber. It, in turn, is difficult to digest by the digestive system of a young bird.
Hercules
Hercules is hydrothermally treated oat flakes, mechanically peeled. And since it is not only possible, but also necessary to feed chickens with oats, this rule also applies to rolled oats.
The latter contains the main substances vital for chicken, micro- and macroelements. The amount of protein that is part of this cereal affects the growth of muscle mass. Hercules is also better than regular oats because in the hulled grain crop the fiber content is significantly reduced, thus facilitating and accelerating the process of assimilation of the product by the chicken body.
The dosage of rolled oats in the feed ration of chickens should be extremely clear and amount to no more than 10–20% of the total daily volume of food (grain elements in conjunction with plant elements).
