⠀ Calcium Treats

[chickenlover909]

Hey, I am doing a poster board on Calcium For Hens, and I wanted to put a treat recipe on it. I was wondering if anyone has a recipe that their chickens absolutely adore that contains calcium in it.

 

[Bloveschickens]

Broccoli, cabbage and Kale are all a good source of calcium, and most people feed crushed oyster shells or crushed egg shells as a calcium supplement.

 

[chickenlover909]

Oh thanks! What is the best way to feed the vegetables to hens?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

they need to be diced

 

[vehve]

Cabbage can be hung on a string too, it provides entertainment for the chickens. Although, not in freezing weather, then they ignore it.

 

[chickenlover909]

Oh sounds like fun for my hens!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Leafy things like kale, collards, etc. can be given whole since they can pull off pieces but keeping in mind that chickens don't have teeth or hands, hard things like broccoli stalks or carrots need to be diced to sizes that can be swallowed and make it down the esophagus.
Put a whole carrot out and they'll ignore it. Dice it and they'll eat it all.
Here's a list of high calcium vegetables.
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/12-vegetables-high-in-calcium.html

Is your aim to do away with layer feed?

 

[chickenlover909]

No, I'm doing a tri-fold about why hens need calcium and I was thinking of putting a recipe using calcium rich products.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well good luck. I'd like to see it when it's done.
I recommend emphasizing that it's only important whey they're actively building egg shells and can be overdone. A hen not in production actually has quite low Ca requirements.
Excess calcium can cause renal failure. They exhibit no symptoms, they just die.

http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/li...eggs-and-your-small-flock-of-laying-hens.html

http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf

http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract

 

[pdirt]

Well good luck. I'd like to see it when it's done.
I recommend emphasizing that it's only important whey they're actively building egg shells and can be overdone. A hen not in production actually has quite low Ca requirements.
Excess calcium can cause renal failure. They exhibit no symptoms, they just die.

http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/li...eggs-and-your-small-flock-of-laying-hens.html

http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf

http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract

Do you have any idea if anything is visibly different in the kidneys during an necropsy if renal failure due to excess calcium was the cause? I don't think this has ever been our issue, because we haven't fed layer feed in a very long time, but I am curious nonetheless.