The apple is a sweet fruit and it is one of the most popular fruit all over the world. The apple tree is cultivated worldwide, not only for the apple’s sweet taste, but for its high health benefits for people, it is high in Vitamin C and fiber. But, not only people, chickens absolutely love apples as well. So, can chickens eat apples?
That is what we are going to take a look at on this page.
Can Chickens Eat Apples?
Yes, chickens can eat apples. Chickens can eat the vast majority of fruits. In fact, you are probably going to want to be incorporating several fruits into their diet. This way they get a good mix of nutrients that they are unable to find in their normal chicken feed.
However, we do want to point out that a chicken’s diet should never be formed mostly of fruits and vegetables…particularly apples.
Apples are, of course, going to be high in sugar. Sure, they are going to have a ton of nutrients packed into them, but there is still a ton of natural sugar in the apples too. You do not want your chickens to be eating too much sugar as this could cause some serious issues for the chickens.
Not only this, but there are no fruits that are high in protein, and your chickens need protein to survive (and create some delicious eggs!).
Can Chickens Eat Apple Seeds?
Absolutely not! If you are going to be feeding apples to your chickens, then you should be removing the seeds first.
This is because apple seeds are toxic. Granted, your chickens would need to eat a lot of the apple seeds for there to be any sort of toxicity, but you probably do not want to run the risk of that, do you?
There isn’t any real nutritional value to the seeds anyway, so you probably do not want to make this common mistake and give your chickens whole apples.
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Preparing the Apples for Chickens to Eat
You could, feasibly, feed the apples to your chickens whole. However, as we said, you will probably want to minimize the number of seeds that they are consuming. You do not have to peel the apples either. In fact, a good number of the nutrients in apples will come from the skins.
In our opinion, you should be cutting the apples up into chunks. You should be feeding a coop of around six chickens no more than three to four apples per week like this. However, as we also said, you will want to ensure that they have a good mixture of fruits and vegetables.
Therefore, you shouldn’t just be feeding them apples. Give them different fruits. Some weeks you may not even want to give them any apples at all.
It is worth noting that you can feed your old apple cores directly to your chickens. Just make sure that you remove the seeds first. You really do not have to be all fancy with your presentation. Chickens are not particularly fussy about what they eat. As long as it is edible to them, they are going to be more than happy to munch down on it.
Conclusion
As you can see; the answer to the question ‘can chickens eat apples’ is 100% yes. Although, you will need to take a few precautions first.
See also:
– Can Chickens Eat Bread
– Can Chickens Eat Bananas
