can chickens eat deer corn?
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can chickens eat deer corn?
Yes, the bags of deer corn I’ve seen are fine for chickens. It’s always a good idea to see what it says on the bag though, there isn’t a standard for deer corn and it’s often marked as not suitable for human consumption.
Chicken have a very different digestive system from us. They don’t have teeth, so you may think they’d have a problem with hard corn – it’s quite the opposite.
When they eat food, it travels down their oesophagus into their crop. The crop is like a large pouch at the front of their chest. You will often see it bulging towards the end of the day after munching all day.
Overnight, food passes from crop through to an organ called the gizzard. This is where food gets “chewed” up. It’s also the reason why chickens need to eat grit, as it’s the grit that’s used to help break up hard foods like deer corn.
From here, food is finally passed through to their small intestine where it’s finally digested and all the good nutrients are absorbed by the chicken.
Deer Corn
When deer corn is in season we buy it locally. We then take it home and run it through our wood chipper. This gives us inexpensive cracked corn to feed to our chickens.
Corn mixed with some of the above options should give your birds a cheap balanced diet without making them overweight.
Features
Deer corn is available in bags of stripped kernels or as whole ears that are left to dry on the stalks still standing in the fields. Other landowners dedicate a certain portion of farmland to growing corn which is left standing throughout the year, providing a food source for the deer into the winter months as well as luring them during hunting season. Corn stalks generally grow tall enough so their tops are accessible above the snow, making them easy for the deer to get at.
how much corn should I feed my chickens?
When feeding mixed corn we would recommend feeding no more than 28g (1oz) per bird per day in addition to the recommended amount of a balanced diet. Providing mixed corn, which can be scattered, helps to satisfy their instinctive need to scratch and range.
Can you feed whole corn to chickens?
Yes, chickens can eat whole corn. In fact, it’s one of the better “treats” to give them as they love it, can scratch for it, and it has some decent nutritional value. Birds more often eat cracked corn, which is basically whole corn dried and broken into smaller pieces.
Why should you not feed corn to chickens?
Corn feed provides more than enough calories, which causes the inactive chickens to bulk up quickly, but it’s too low in fatty acids and certain amino acids, vitamins and minerals for chickens to thrive.
At what age can chickens eat cracked corn?
Whole corn is fine for chickens older than about six weeks or so. It’s cheaper and keeps better than cracked corn. Normally, in the U.S., whole corn is the cheapest grain you can buy, and chickens like it. Cracked corn gets moldy fairly quickly, so use it or lose it.
Nutritional Benefits Of Corn For Chickens
You might be wondering about whole corn kernels and the benefits of incorporating them into your chicken’s diet. Luckily, corn has a lot of nutritional benefits that any backyard chicken needs to continue their busy daily schedule of laying and foraging.
Corn is considered a warming food for chickens. This doesn’t mean that it contains thermogenic ingredients, but since it’s high in calories, it’s considered a fuel or a filler that can keep the chicken full for longer during the winter season or colder weather. So, if you notice your chickens appear cold, you can add extra corn to their daily diets to give them an extra boost of energy.
Corn also contains a decent amount of fiber, which helps keep your chicken’s digestive system on track. Corn also contains protein, carbohydrates, and fats, all of which make up a regular chicken’s diet. In fact, it’s not so different at all from other grains and seeds you find in your chickens’ normal feed.
Other healthy foods you can pair with corn for chickens are seeds such as flax seeds, poppy seeds, or chia seeds.
What is the best thing to feed a chicken?
Good choices include leafy greens, cooked beans, corn, non-sugary cereals and grains, berries, apples and most other fruits and vegetables. Despite often voracious appetites and a willingness to eat just about anything you might give them, there are some foods to be avoided.
What is a good protein for chickens?
You can give them the entire fish – head, guts, bones and all. Shrimp shells, raw or cooked, lobster shells and innards, plus the shrimp and lobster meat can all be offered to your chickens. Dried mealworms or grubs are one of the best sources of protein available, and chickens go nuts for them!
Why is deer corn not good for farm animals?
This corn is about $3.00 cheaper than regular corn (for farm animals) that you find in the local feed stores. On the bag, it says that this deer corn should not be fed to chickens, ducks, geese or other farm animals but it doesn’t say why.
Is Corn bad for chickens in the summer?
Yes, corn is considered a “hot” food. But providing corn for chickens in the summer doesn’t overheat them any more than cupcakes will overheat humans. Go ahead and make that recipe with frozen corn for chickens in muffin tins. They may not eat it until it thaws, but they will appreciate cold kernels on a hot day.
What Can’t Chickens Eat?
Some food and drink items clearly don’t belong in the chicken coop, such as alcohol, chocolate and caffeine. Foods that aren’t good for humans are usually poor choices for chickens, so keep your birds away from processed foods. These items are loaded with sugar and salt, leading to obesity and electrolyte imbalances. Too much salt can cause heart failure. Mold can also be deadly, so chickens should never be given spoiled food. If you wouldn’t eat it, your birds shouldn’t either.
Leafy vegetation can also pose a danger. Tomatoes, peppers and potatoes are members of the nightshade family, so their leaves are toxic to many animals. Raw, green potatoes can carry this toxin in their skins, so while the flesh is safe, chickens shouldn’t be fed peelings.
Fortunately, there are many wholesome treats for chickens to enjoy. Make sure any produce is organic or washed clean of harmful pesticides. Keep a bird’s diet balanced by limiting treat portions to a few pecks.
is dried corn good for chickens?
whilst I highly recommend cracked corn or scratch grains, your hens‘ diet shouldn’t consist of only cracked corn/scratch grains. Used alone they won’t provide your hens with the required vitamins and minerals they need to live a healthy life.
Secondly, how long does corn take to dry? four to eight weeks
Keeping this in consideration, can you give corn cobs to chickens?
Yes they can. They can be used to make a nutrient-rich activity treat. This treat is high in protein that will help to keep them active and warm through the colder months and fight boredom if they need to be confined.
Deer Corn, Everything you Need to Know
So, Deer Corn is just corn. The same stuff you see growing in a cornfield. Deer love it, and it’s not as expensive as other options for deer feed. But it still can get pretty costly if you are filling up a feeder once a week. Corn marketed as “deer Corn” usually costs 50 percent more simply because they think hunters will pay more.
Around me, I can buy a bag of bulk shelled corn for $0.18 per pound. But, the same corn put into a bag with a deer on it costs $0.28 per pound. The industry expects hunters to be more willing to shell out the dough for shelled corn than the average farmer, and the price is increased accordingly.
You can get corn cheaper just by going to any farm store or animal feed supply store and buying bags of corn there. If you really want to get the best price, you can buy it directly from a farmer. I know farmers who will sell you corn out of their grain bins for 10 cents a pound If I but 500 pounds at once. That’s a pretty big saving if you go through a lot of corn.
Deer Corn
If you don’t want to have to find a local farmer, you can just buy Shelled corn from any farm supply store. it’s just basic livestock corn.
The type of corn that’s used is standard hybrid field corn. It’s specifically bred to be high starch corn. Inevitably, it will also be low protein (usually 7-6 percent) and quite low fiber. It’s actually low enough protein and fiber that too much corn will cause digestive trouble, stunted growth, and malnutrition in deer
There are some types of corn with double the fiber and protein, but that’s not what you find being commercially grown for feed. Corn is used in animal feed as a supplement to increase calories by adding starch. It’s also pretty low in fat. This is the corn the entire country grows because it’s used to make ethanol and modified food starch.
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