Chaeto as chicken feed?

[DylanE]

Trying to come up with ways of not wasting the chaeto I have to pull out during my weekly water change. It’s gotten to the point where it’s probably a softball sized ball every week. Anyone have experience feeding it to chickens? I imagine it’d be fine, but considering that it’s definitey not a natural food for them, I wanted to see if anyone had done it first.

 

[homer1475]

I would think, and I am certainly no expert here, that the SW in the chaeto would cause your chickens to become dehydrated. Similar to how our bodies won't accept SW.

 

[DylanE]

I would think, and I am certainly no expert here, that the SW in the chaeto would cause your chickens to become dehydrated. Similar to how our bodies won't accept SW.

That was one of my thoughts. Although I’m not sure what the actual salt content of the seaweed would be. I checked the dried nori in my pantry, and the packaging states 0 sodium. Maybe that has to do with the way it’s cured?

 

[crusso1993]

I would think, and I am certainly no expert here, that the SW in the chaeto would cause your chickens to become dehydrated. Similar to how our bodies won't accept SW.

That was one of my thoughts. Although I’m not sure what the actual salt content of the seaweed would be. I checked the dried nori in my pantry, and the packaging states 0 sodium. Maybe that has to do with the way it’s cured?

Not trying to start an argument or anything of the sort but people eat seaweed all the time with many, many health benefits.

When I raised free range chickens we fed them all sorts of odd things and never had any negative results. Well, other than them hatching with the occasional 3rd eyeball. But, seriously, I really do not believe it will harm them in any way.

 

[DylanE]

Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience. We’ve got 30 hens, si I doubt any one would eat much, anyways. I’ll give it a shot and see how they do.

 

[JamesP]

Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience. We’ve got 30 hens, si I doubt any one would eat much, anyways. I’ll give it a shot and see how they do.

I was wondering how this went. I was thinking about the possibility of rinsing it with a quick soak in tap water and then mixing it into a homemade chicken feed. I can't imagine anything going wrong, but I was just curious if they found it appealing.

 

[DylanE]

I was wondering how this went. I was thinking about the possibility of rinsing it with a quick soak in tap water and then mixing it into a homemade chicken feed. I can't imagine anything going wrong, but I was just curious if they found it appealing.

They’re crazy for it. I just give it a light rinse and throw it in with the kitchen scraps. They noticeably favor it over pretty much any other greens.

 

[Dr. Jim]

I'm a Board-Certified Avian Specialist (veterinarian). I work mostly with parrots/pet birds and certainly don't claim to be a chicken expert, but your question peeked my interest.
A quick google search revealed that "seaweed" contains about 70mg salt/cup. The recommended salt content in chicken feed is about 0.2% or about 2mg/ml of food. So a cup of feed contains about 500 mg salt, IF my calculations are correct. (I know liquid ml aren't the same as dry ml, so these calculations aren't perfect, which is why I'm not making any recommendations....but it seems like 70 mg of salt in a cup of seaweed would not be extreme). Certainly washing it with freshwater is a good idea as well as observing the chickens to see if they start drinking more water would be prudent. (Of course we don't know if there is anything besides excess salt in chaeto that might be harmful, though).

Again, I'm not recommending that you feed chaeto to chickens....just some interesting info to investigate further perhaps!

I wish you could give me some of your extra Chaeto! I just set up a refugium and my chaeto died in a few weeks. (I posted a thread on it earlier today; no responses though!

 

[Maegn]

Trying to come up with ways of not wasting the chaeto I have to pull out during my weekly water change. It’s gotten to the point where it’s probably a softball sized ball every week. Anyone have experience feeding it to chickens? I imagine it’d be fine, but considering that it’s definitey not a natural food for them, I wanted to see if anyone had done it first.

I would be worried about toxins if you have coral in your tank. Example: palytoxins. But this is just a guess, I don't know that the Chaeto would carry any of these toxins for sure. I do know that Chaeto will carry every parasite you have in your tank. Example: bristleworms, aiptasia. You might want to check if any of these would bother your girls. <3

 

[atkinsc]

I have the same question and am wondering what the result was here?

I too have chickens and extra chaeto, and giving it away can be painful haha

 

[KrisReef]

I have the same question and am wondering what the result was here?

I too have chickens and extra chaeto, and giving it away can be painful haha

The only reason the doctor had concerns seemed to focus on salt content. I would try a tiny amount (after rinsing in tap) to see if it is salty or not? Reading that the chickens preferred it I might guess it’s like potato chips for them, tasty and not terribly harmful as a treat but I don’t think I would try to make it a major staple in the diet.

I also don’t think it’s going to absorb toxins from tank water that would be bad for you or your chickens. It would utilize nutrients and carbs but that’s what the chickens are after when they eat.

 

[MexiReefer]

Fresh free-range-nori-flavoured chicken eggs. Nice.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't see an issue giving macroalgae to chickens if they want to eat it. People eat seaweed all the tine.