If you’re looking to feed your chickens a tasty, crunchy, and sweet fruit, apples are the way to go. Humans eat apples, horses eat apples and chickens eat apples too. This fruit is nutrient-rich and delicious.

When chickens eat fruits they usually eat the whole fruit and leave nothing behind, but what about apple cores? Can chickens eat apple cores? This article looks into it 

Chickens cannot eat apple cores, this is because apple cores contain apple seeds. Apple seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide. Cyanide, even in small amounts, can cause blood to stop delivering oxygen to the bird’s tissues and cells, this lack of oxygen can kill a chicken in a matter of seconds to minutes 

Can chickens eat apple cores?

Many chicken treat recipes call for apples to be cored before serving the fruit to chickens.

Whether you’re serving the food with peanut butter, hanging it in your chicken’s coop, or simply leaving the food out for the bird to eat, the apple needs to be cored. 

Risks of chickens eating apple cores:

Apple cores are not inherently beneficial to chickens but this is not the main reason why apples meant for chickens need to be cored.

Removing apple cores is a must because the core contains apple seeds, apple seeds contain traces of cyanide. Chickens don’t know that they should avoid these seeds, they simply see the seeds like any other food

If you don’t core apples meant for your chickens, the birds will eat the seeds and suffer from cyanide poisoning. Cyanide prevents blood from delivering oxygen to cells and tissue.

When chickens eat cyanide, their blood becomes very oxygenated but cannot deliver this oxygen to the cells and tissues that need it. This affects the bird quickly and the bird can die within a matter of seconds to minutes. 

Another reason why chickens can’t eat apple cores is that apple cores are difficult to break down. If a chicken isn’t able to break down an apple core, the core can become stuck in the bird’s throat and cause it to choke and die

Are apple skins ok for chickens? 

Chickens have no problem eating apple skins. This part of the apple is quite nutritious for these animals.  What you should be worried about are the pesticides that may be on inorganic apple skins.

Pesticides are sprayed on fruits to keep insects and other pests away from crops, but these pesticides can cause your chicken to become ill or even die.

If you can, opt for organic apples when buying apples for your chickens, these apples don’t have any pesticides sprayed on them 

What foods are toxic for chickens? 

Apple seeds aren’t the only fruit seeds that can poison chickens, the pits of stone fruits such as peach, plum, apricot, and cherries can also poison chickens. For this reason, it is very important to remove the seeds of these fruits before serving them to your chickens

Foods other than fruit that are toxic to chicken include avocado, uncooked beans, junk food, chocolate, moldy or spoilt food, green potato skins, candy, and alcohol.

Rather stick to feeding your bird a diet that is good for them, that being specialized chicken feed, fruits, and vegetables 

Conclusion

In conclusion, no, chickens cannot eat apple cores. This part of the apple is difficult to break down and can become stuck in your chicken’s esophagus.

Apple cores contain seeds that contain trace amounts of cyanide. Other fruit seeds that also contain this toxin, include seeds from cherries, plums, and peaches.

Apple skins are safe for chickens but it is recommended that you only buy organic apples if you’ll be feeding birds, this is because inorganic apples usually have a layer of pesticide on them. 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Can chickens eat persimmons?, Can chickens eat pumpkin skin?, Can chickens eat ivy?, Can chickens eat irises?