Can I feed my chickens peanut shells?

[donrae]

Why is using free peanut shells as bedding ridiculous? Sounds like good recycling to me.

 

[myfarm4579]

Recycle and reuse awsome

 

[Cutepal]

Idk, most chickens use soft things like paper shreds and straw, but if you put peanut shells with my chickens, they would eat their bed.

 

[ChickenJerk]

Do not use it as a bedding, thats ridiculous. Peanut hulls are one of the most desireable bedding materials that has been used for decades in poultry production. If you have a paper shredder, you can use the paper shreds has a bed, it's one of the most common things, Shredded paper is a very undesirable bedding material due to the fact that it mats when it becomes the least bit wet that's what I do to my chickens. Yes, you can feed them peanut shells, chickens eat many things. Well they are not going to willingly ore enthusiastically eat peanut hulls. You should crush them and mix it with other foods. Why? To dilute the nutritional value of the other feedstuffs?If you have bags of straw, that could also be a bed. It's more common than paper shreds and anything, you can find the bags in Ace. (These are not pictures of my coop, I thought they were good examples.)

The value of this advice should be researched more closely.

 

[J at Yoti Farms]

Chickens will eat shredded paper

 

[RonP]

Chickens will eat shredded paper

Yes, they will.

They will also shred and eat cardboard.

As long as the paper does not contain any toxins, it seems to have the same effects as eating shredded leaves or wood, which they also relish.

Added fiber.

 

[BigBossPants]

I ended up adding the peanut shells to the litter on the floor. We have a deep bed of coarse bark on half of the enclosure so I just tip it on top, the girls come running and have a good peck and scratch, and it gets mixed in nicely. Adds smaller, softer bits to their litter so it's easier for them to dig in and softer underfoot. It also sticks to their poop so I don't get it all over my shoes and can remove it easier at cleaning time
I'm using hay in their nests but they like to scratch it out and throw it everywhere. They also only ever seem to lay in one or two nests, even though there are 5 boxes. Are these just the most desirable boxes? I am suspicious that only 2 or 3 of my 4 are laying... Or they are all laying slowly.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The only thing I can add is dry roasted are ok but the salted would be too much salt. But for bedding, the shells are a good use.

 

[nc farm]

Seems like it would be fine to add to bedding and a great example of recycling.

As far as bedding goes, we have recently tried sand in the chick brooder and it's great! We bought the construction grade sand and change it out every other day. It produces much less dust than other bedding options, as these chicks are still pretty much living inside. The chicks seem to enjoy it and they are using it for dust baths.

On another note, please be kind and refrain from referring to another user's comment as ridiculous. We're all playing in the same sandbox. Be nice.

 

[ChickenWaterer]

Hi Big Boss Pants -- as a general rule of thumb, you shouldn't give your chickens anything to eat that you wouldn't eat yourself --
No uncooked potato peels, no avocado skins, no food that has gotten moldy etc. There are also some folks that don't give citrus to chickens because they believe it causes feather pulling.