raw skim milk being fed to organic pastured chickens

[Jean@125]

We have several pastured chickens on order from a local farmer. He emailed us and said that he was expecting better size chickens than expected for this time of year due to him skimming the cream off of his grass fed cows milk and using the skim milk to supplement the chicken feed. Sounds good to me what ya think? Thanks Jeanie

[speedymagee]

I don't know, but milk isn't part of a chicken's normal diet. There was a thread a few days ago about how corn/soy fed tilapia had a wierd omega profile. I wonder if it would be the same sort of thing??

[Jean@125]

Originally Posted by speedymagee

I don't know, but milk isn't part of a chicken's normal diet. There was a thread a few days ago about how corn/soy fed tilapia had a wierd omega profile. I wonder if it would be the same sort of thing??

I don't know. He is a reputable farmer and is obviously not trying to hide the fact that he is adding the milk. I'll be interested to see what other posters think as well. Jeanie

[rottinluv]

Maybe ask him why he is giving it to them. I agree with Speedy, it's not species appropriate food, so I cannot imagine what good it could do.

[Rory8343]

I've read chickens are omnivores and will eat baby mice etc. Birds eat each others eggs and young. Now granted I have seen a chicken milk a cow.................. But it would make a great you tube video.

[ljh150]

Hmmm, never heard of giving chickens milk, and the cream is the healthiest part of raw milk. Yeah, I would ask him why, he may know something we don't.

[Tuscanytrace]

Originally Posted by Jean@125

We have several pastured chickens on order from a local farmer. He emailed us and said that he was expecting better size chickens than expected for this time of year due to him skimming the cream off of his grass fed cows milk and using the skim milk to supplement the chicken feed. Sounds good to me what ya think? Thanks Jeanie

This is fine. Our original cowshare farmer, who is one of the leading advocates nation-wide for the Weston A. Price foundation, does this. Matter of fact almost all their farm animals get a regular dose of fresh milk--well, usually about 2-day old milk, when the natural antibodies in it have done their job and it's actually a bit healthier than when fresh.

The chickens do indeed get larger; their eggs are larger, with brighter yolks, and tougher shells. The eggs we get from their farm don't fit into ANY egg containers, even jumbo ones, unless the container isn't closed tightly. It makes sense they charge a bit more a dozen, like $4.50, because they are literally twice the size of extra-large eggs!

Chickens are NOT vegetarians. They do eat insects and whatever little animals they can come across. I haven't heard that this changes the fatty acid profile of their meat--if anything, it would raise the Omega 3 content, because fresh, raw milk from pasture-fed cows has a high content of it.

Fawn? Can you contribute on this question?

[ljh150]

That's interesting........but I'm still wondering the benefit of raw skimmed milk.

[fawn]

That is interesting. I do know chickens are not vegetarians but I've never heard of the skimmed milk.......

OT: Janette, you look just radiant, healthy and so beautiful. You amaze me. It seems like just yesterday you were pregnant with your 3rd.

[ljh150]

Thanks Fawn, you are so sweet!

[zelia]

This used to be a common practice. When people grew their own food, skimmed milk was fed to the hogs and poultry. Skimmed milk was a waste product from butter and cheese making.

Profitable Poultry Production (1910) : "The pen which received the skim milk laid 248 eggs more than the other, or practically an extra egg for every quart of skim milk they received."

Farmer's Cyclopedia of Live Stock (1908) : "Skim milk is one of the most valuable adjuncts of the farm for fattening swine."

ETA: What's changed in the past 100 years is that they figured out how to market skim milk as people food at a much higher profit than feeding it to stock.

[fawn]

thank you Zelia!