Some people have seen that their chickens are eating charcoal, so they wonder if giving charcoal to their chickens might be good for them. Here in this post I am going to discuss in details about Feeding Charcoal to Chickens, benefits to chickens and feeding tips (how to feed).
Feeding Charcoal to Chickens:
Nowadays in poultry farming almost every farmer who are use lots of medicine and supplements for keeping their chickens away from diseases, but you might be surprised, that charcoal is not just for grilling. It has incredible benefits that helps to provide to our chickens.
Read Also: 100% Organic Homemade Chicken Feed Formula
Benefits of feeding charcoal to chickens:
if you will notice than chickens are natural foragers, they are known to peck various objects while they are search for their foods. Even though scientists are still studying it, some people say and some studies show that giving chickens charcoal might be good for them, here is some benefits of feeding charcoal to chickens:
A) Improve Digestive health and gut health:
Our first potential benefit of feeding charcoal to chickens is all about gut health. Just like us, chickens can also suffer from digestive issues, specially, when their diets become imbalance or when they consume some harmful substances.
So charcoal is porous is nature that may act like a tiny sponge or acts like a magnet in the chicken digestive system which help to absorbing toxins and promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in chicken gut. This might help chickens digest their foods batter and even stop them from getting common diarrhea and even coccidiosis.
Read Also: Most Common Chicken Diseases
B) Improve Odor Control:
Another surprising advantage of feeding charcoal to chickens is improve odor control. By adding charcoal to chicken diet, you can control the ammonia in the chicken liter. Charcoal helps to bind the ammonia in the chicken gut, which leading less smelly manure and making coop clean and more pleasant for every individual who are involved there.
C) Reduce the Chance of Intestinal Parasite Infection:
Third on the list benefits of feeding charcoal to chicken is it helps to kill the intestinal parasite infection occurs in chickens. Regular feeding of charcoal is help to prevent the risk of the parasite infection or the worm infection which Is present in the gut of chickens.
There are different types of parasite that effect the digestive system in chickens, such as: round worms, hair worms, tape worms etc. these all make chickens sick, causing poor body growth and even sometime death can also occurs in chickens.
D) Increase Egg production and quality:
Some chicken owners are used to say that regular feeding charcoal to chickens will help to boost their egg production and also help to increase egg quality by improving egg shell and overall quality of the eggs. But it is not 100% sure, more studies are needed to be sure if this is truly the case.
Read Also: 5 Most Egg Laying Chicken Breeds
How to Feed Charcoal to Chickens?
Now the question that can come to your mind is how much charcoal can feed to your chickens. So, there is no exact dose or still research is lacking to establish safe and effective dosage guidelines for charcoal in chickens.
Each flock has unique needs and sensitivities, so what might be safe for one flock could be harmful to another. At the end I would suggest you to not use excessive charcoal and large pieces, that can also cause serious health issue in chickens.
I) Choosing the right charcoal is important:
Always use activated charcoal which are specifically designed for the animal consumption. This type of charcoal undergoes with a specific process to increase its absorbency, which make it safer for chickens.
Don’t give your chickens charcoal from grills, briquettes, or from other places which you don’t know well. This charcoal might have bad stuff in it that can make your chickens sick.
II) Preparing and offering charcoal:
You can give your chickens crushed charcoal in a separate bowl or offer them a whole piece of special charcoal to peck on. In general, the safe dose will be @10-15 grams of charcoal /1kg of chicken feed.
Means you have to take 10, 15 or 20 grams of finely crushed charcoal and have to mix with 1kg of regular chicken food. According to this dose, as much as food you use to give to your chickens to eat at a time, charcoal should be used accordingly.
III) How long charcoal should use?
Another question that may coming to your mind is how long can you use charcoal continuously to your chickens? In my opinion, you can use to feed charcoal to your chickens continue for 3 days in every 7-10 days of interval.
Also Read: 9 High Protein Free Natural Chicken Feeds
Conclusion:
Scientists are still studying whether feeding charcoal to chickens is good for them, but some people say and some studies show it might help. Regular use of charcoal to chickens diet will not be a magic solution, and we need more studies to say it for sure if it’s really helps. Thank You, and Read More!
