Dragon fruit is a tropical fruit that’s gaining popularity due to its nutrition. This fruit has a soft texture with a distinctive flavor to it. When dragon fruit becomes available, which is during the summer months, most will buy a couple of dragon fruit to eat at home. If you have backyard chickens, you may be wondering if you can feed them dragon fruit as well.
Can Chickens Eat Dragon Fruit?
Yes, chickens can eat dragon fruit, including peels and seeds. This tropical fruit offers a lot of nutrition that the chickens can benefit from. Dragon fruit can either be fed to the chickens raw or cooked. With the high amount of sugar content, only feed the dragon fruit to the chickens in moderation to avoid health issues.
Are There Any Risks To Feeding Dragon Fruit To Chickens?
When it comes to dragon fruit, chickens can eat them without any issues. However, there are risks when the chickens eat too much of it.
One of the risks associated with feeding dragon fruit to chickens is that it may upset their stomachs if they eat too much at one time. This is due to the high water content of the fruit.
Another risk is due to the high sugar content, dragon fruit can lead to diabetes in adult chickens who are overweight or whose immune systems are compromised by certain diseases such as infectious bronchitis or coccidiosis (a parasitic infection).
Benefits of Feeding Dragon Fruit To Chickens
Dragon fruit contains many nutrients. It’s a good source of fiber, magnesium, and iron. Also, it has a small trace of vitamin C, protein, and carbs.
Since dragon fruit is a highly nutrient-dense fruit, yet low in calories, it makes them a healthy snack for chickens.
Below are some of the benefits of feeding dragon fruit to your chickens:
A good source of antioxidants. An antioxidant is a compound that prevents free radicals from damaging the cells in the body. If there are too many free radicals, it will damage the cells and could cause disease and illness.
By giving the chickens food high in antioxidants like dragon fruit, the free radicals will be kept to a minimum.
Promote a healthy digestive system. Dragon fruit is a good source of fiber. Fiber is a carbohydrate that the body can’t digest. Instead, it helps keep the digestive system functioning properly. Fiber help promotes regular bowel movement. This will help move food through the digestive tract smoothly.
Great for hydration. Dragon fruit contains a lot of water. This makes them a great fruit for the chickens during the summer. It will keep them hydrated during the day when it’s hot.
Can Baby Chickens Eat Dragon Fruit?
Yes, baby chickens can eat dragon fruit, but only when they are at least 3 weeks. Under 3 weeks old, their digestive system has not developed enough to digest the fruit.
Instead, they should be fed starter feeds. These feeds are formulated with the correct amount of nutrition to help keep the chicks strong and healthy.
Can Chickens Eat Dragon Fruit Peels?
Yes, chickens can eat dragon fruit peels. It’s edible, but a bit tough for the chickens to eat it. You will have to cut them into smaller pieces before you can feed them the peels.
Some people will cut the dragon fruit in halves and give them to the chickens. The chickens will peck at the flesh and also the peels.
Some chickens will eat the peels, while others won’t touch them. For those chickens that do eat the peels, they will gain some nutrition from it. The skin of the dragon fruit is high in antioxidants, iron, and vitamin C.
Can Chickens Eat Dragon Fruit Seeds?
Chickens can eat dragon fruit seeds and you can give them as part of the fruit.
They contain protein and fat, which makes them a great source of nutrition for your flock. They also contain trace minerals like iron and magnesium that help keep your chickens healthy and happy.
How To Feed Dragon Fruit To Your Chickens
When it comes to feeding dragon fruit to your chickens, there are a couple of methods to feed them.
Dragon Fruit Cut Up Into Pieces
The quickest way to feed dragon fruit to chickens is by cutting it into small pieces and feeding it directly to them. Dragon fruit does not need to be cooked before feeding it to chickens; however, if you’re using fresh dragon fruit instead of canned dragon fruit, you may want to wash it thoroughly before cutting up the pieces for your flock.
Freshly Chopped Dragon Fruit For Your Flock
If you’re going through a lot of dragon fruit or have several different types of birds that like eating dragon fruit, chopping the fruit into pieces and placing them in a bowl will work best for you. This way, all the birds can eat at once instead of having just one bird monopolize all the food while others stand around waiting their turn!
Make a Fruit Salad
You can feed dragon fruit to chickens by making a fruit salad. Just dice the dragon fruit and put it in with other fruits like grapes, apples, or strawberries. You can also add some yogurt for added sweetness and nutrition. You may want to cut back on the amount of yogurt if you’re adding it to the salad because it has quite a bit of sugar in it already.
Once you’ve mixed all of your ingredients together, serve them up on a plate for your chickens! The chickens will love their new treat!
How Much Dragon Fruit Should You Feed Your Chickens?
Dragon fruit is packed with nutrients such as vitamin C and fiber, but it also has potential health risks if you feed it to your chickens. Feeding too much can actually hurt them, so you should only give them small amounts of this fruit.
You’ll want to make sure you don’t overfeed your chickens with this fruit because they can become sick from eating too much.
It’s best to feed your chickens one slice of dragon fruit for each chicken in your flock. This amount should be fine for most healthy adult birds, but if you have younger birds or chicks who haven’t reached adulthood yet, you may want to give them smaller slices so they don’t eat too much at once and get sick from overeating on dragon fruit.
How Often Should You Feed Your Chickens Dragon Fruit?
Chickens should be fed dragon fruit in moderation. This means once or twice per week.
Like other fruits, dragon fruit should only make up 10% of their entire diet. This fruit doesn’t have enough nutrition in it to keep the chicken healthy.
The rest of it should come in the form of quality commercial feeds. These feeds are formulated with the right amount of nutrition to meet the chicken’s dietary requirements. Depending on the age of the chicken, there are many feeds available.
Other Fruits That Chickens Can Eat
Apples
During the fall, it’s time to start harvesting apples. Chickens will eat apples and apple peels. Apples are packed with nutrition that’s healthy for them. Just be sure to remove the seeds first since it’s toxic to the chickens.
Oranges
Oranges are citrus fruit that has some amazing health benefits. Unfortunately, chickens tend to stay clear of oranges. However, if you can get them to eat it by adding it to a fruit salad. If chickens eat oranges, they will gain plenty of nutrition from them.
Strawberries
Chickens enjoy eating strawberries due to their soft texture. This fruit is packed with nutrition which includes vitamins A, C, and B9. Also, it is rich in antioxidants, which will help keep them healthy. Due to the high amount of water and sugar content, it’s best to feed strawberries to the chickens in moderation.
Conclusion
Dragon fruit can be fed to the chickens, but only in moderation. This fruit has too much sugar and water content which can cause the chicken to have diarrhea and become obese. As long as you feed dragon fruit to them in moderation, you shouldn’t worry about them having any health issues.
