When we get chickens, our entire life changes. We worry for them, we take care of them and we want the absolute best for them, including feeding them the best food we can find. So, you are here because you want to find out can chickens eat bananas, right? Well, the answer is; absolutely!
Can Chickens Eat Bananas
Yes, chickens can have bananas! In fact, getting a few chunks of banana into their diet may be a good thing. Bananas are a great source of all sorts of vitamins, they are high in vitamin C, and they’re also good sources of vitamin B6 as well as manganese, all of which benefit your chicken’s overall health.
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Bananas are Rich in Vitamins
They are a brilliant source of potassium too. It can be very difficult to get potassium into a chicken’s diet otherwise (not that they need that much in the way of potassium). Of course, they are also high in sugar, but we will talk more about that soon.
A lot of the people wondering ‘can chickens have bananas’ think that the potassium is bad for a chicken. Yes. It is true. If you have too much potassium, it can actually be bad for you. This applies to humans too.
However, the chances of being able to consume anywhere close to the amount of potassium that will make you sick is impossible with bananas. Your chickens would need to eat dozens of bananas to get sick. These would have to be eaten all in one go.
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Are Bananas Bad For Chickens?
One of the ‘bigger’ problems with the banana is that it is going to be high in sugar. Chickens handle sugar just as well as we do. Due to its very high sugar content it is almost like a candy to them.
This means that you do not want to give them too much in the way of fruit. It could cause all sorts of issues. This means that bananas (and other fruits) should not form a key part of a chicken’s diet. It should be nothing more than a treat every now and then.
How to Feed Bananas to Chickens
There are some chickens who are resourceful enough to know how to peel a banana themselves. Chances are that you do not own one of these chickens in your backyard. That being said, even if your chicken could peel a banana, it shouldn’t be peeling the banana.
If you are going to be giving bananas to your chickens, then you will want to ensure that you completely peel it (you do not want your chickens to be eating the peel) and then cut it up into chunks. One or two bananas should be more than enough for a few chickens. As we said; you do not want them to be eating it almost constantly.
Make sure that you do not feed it to them with other fruits too. If you do, then there is a pretty big chance that they are going to be overindulging in sugar.
If you are giving bananas to your chickens for the first time, then you may want to keep an eye on them for a while. There may be small digestive issues in them. It is unlikely, but if there are, then this could indicate that you are giving them a little bit too much in the way of fruit (including bananas) and you will need to cut back the next time.
Remember; you should only be feeding them treats like this a couple of times per week!
All in all, as long as you give your chickens bananas in small quantities , your chickens should live a long, healthy life!