Chickens can and will eat tomatoes in your yard.
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Do Chickens eat Tomatoes?
They will consume tomatoes with no problem.
They will also eat the tomato plant.
In addition they will eat the squash, berries, corn, pepper plants, zukes, and beans, when it first sprouts.
If it doesn’t eat chickens, chickens it eat!!
Can chicken eat Tomato?
Yes, chickens can snack on ripe tomatoes with no ill effect at all. It should make up around 5% of their total diet.
A couple of years ago, the University of California conducted a study on alternative sources for poultry feeds. The feeding trial, done by the university of California was searching for different ways of boosting vitamin E levels naturally in poultry feed.
Part of this trial involved feeding chickens 15% by weight tomato pomace, that includes seeds and skins from processing plants.
It turns out that seeds are rich in Vitamin A and E as well as other nutrients including the antioxidant lycopene.
The spokesperson for the trial said “Through working with tomato pomace, I discovered a plethora of nutritious by-products that could be fed to both broiler and laying hens”
During the trial the egg colour deepened thanks to the carotenoids or colours present in the tomato.
If you grow or process your own into canned tomato or passata then you can happily feed the tomato seeds and trimmings to your chickens knowing they will not only like them but that it is good for them.
Will chickens eat Tomato?
I have never seen a chicken that will not go nuts for a tomato.
My flock of 5 RIR’s are monsters when it comes to gulping down surplus tomatoes from my garden.
They just run off with them so they can keep it all to themselves.
Can chickens eat Cherry Tomatoes?
Yes, cherry tomatoes are only smaller versions of the same fruit and are safe for chickens to eat.
Don’t believe me? Throw them some cherry tomatoes and watch the magic happen.
As long as the cherry tomatoes are not rotten, mouldy, or have been treated with insecticide or pesticide, then you can feed them.
Personally, I don’t feed mine unripe tomatoes as they prefer the ripe ones.
Can Chickens eat Grape Tomatoes or other colours?
My garden is home to 4 varieties from the massive black Russians to the golden sunrise and all coloured tomatoes go the same way when you add chickens to the mix.
The color compounds in the tomato helps them glow brighter so there are lots of benefits of adding tomatoes to your chicken diet.
Can chickens eat Green tomato?
Mine prefer the ripe ones! However, unripe tomatoes are safe for chickens to eat.
Why is that? Because they lack solanine like the plants do, but are hard to eat using beaks! You can feed your chickens when they begin to change colors.
Unripe tomatoes are typically safe. It depends on how unripe we’re talking , but I’m going to assume they’re reddish and just a little hard for you.
If you grow tomatoes in your greenhouse, or garden and your chickens have found your patch, they are going to eat everything they can reach, ripe or not.
Can Baby Chickens eat Tomatoes?
Yes, they can. It’s 100% safe.
Can Chickens Eat tinned tomato?
Canned or tinned tomato is safe for chickens as well as long as it hasn’t had too much sugar or salt added like with salt food, ketchup and salt isn’t good for birds.
The same with tomato puree, it is fine for hens in small amounts but large amounts of a concentrated product may upset digestion.
Is Tomato Good for Chickens?
Yes, tomato is fine for chickens. Aside being used as a treat, you can feed them too. The study I earlier mentioned gave their test hens a diet that was 15% tomato and all the measures of egg quality either stayed the same or increased.
It was noted that the yolk colour improved considerably.
The trial was 50% broiler hens and they did just as well on the diet with tomato pomace in so you can feed it to meat chickens as well.
Do tomatoes have to be cooked for chickens?
Nope. Tomato can be, but doesn’t have to be cooked to be fed to chickens. It is fine for chickens whether raw or is cooked. Mine like it either way.
Cooked tomato has higher lycopene levels which is good but it does not matter.
Can chickens eat tomato Plants and leaves?
It has been argued that the stems and leaves of the tomato plant should not be fed to plants but mine consume them all (the seeds, the fruit and plant) and they are all fine.
However, it is important to note here that the tomato plant is a member of the nightshade family and the green parts contain solanine that is harmful to most animals.
From experience, a couple of leaves will not harm your birds (mine eat more and have suffered nothing). So, it’s either it does no harm at all like many think or chickens have developed ways of dealing with poisons in the diet. It is best avoided if you can.
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