Maybe some would like to be chicken! This is because the chickens receive special attention and care from those who raise chickens with them at home and take them as pets and friends. You find them exaggerating in pampering and caring for them.
This is really a good thing, as you find them providing them with their own food, even if it is a fruit or other expensive food, their cost exceeds the cost of the usual chicken feed. So we get frequently asked questions about whether chickens can eat apples, kiwis, or bananas!
It may seem funny to some, but in fact, it is very important as it is necessary to ask well before you accept to provide any food to your chickens.
Since we are your partners in raising your poultry in a healthy way, we had to know everything you can think of about chicken. So, in the coming lines, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide on feeding bananas to silkie chickens and answer all the questions that are on your mind about this topic.
Can Silkie Chicken Eat Bananas?
Yes, silkie chickens can eat bananas. Bananas taste sweet and have a soft texture, which makes Silkie chickens enjoy eating them.
Bananas are also rich in many nutrients that support silkie chicken health, such as potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin A, and antioxidants. They also contain minerals such as magnesium, iron, niacin, and other plant nutrients.
But despite these benefits, there are restrictions that must be adhered to when offering bananas to Silkie chickens because they are very rich in sugar, which is harmful to poultry if eaten in large quantities.
What is the safe amount of bananas for Silkie Chickens?
Each silkie chicken’s share of bananas should not exceed a quarter or fifth of bananas, meaning that only one banana should be provided for every four or five chickens.
1. Potassium
Bananas are known to be a great source of potassium. Doctors usually prescribe them as a healthy natural potassium supplement. The same is the case for silkie chickens, as bananas are a good source of potassium for chickens.
Like humans, chickens also need potassium. Potassium is important for the silkie chicken’s metabolism and supports Chicken electrolysis function, supporting muscle strength. It also increases chicken resistance to diseases and reduces stress.[1]
One of the most important benefits of potassium for silkie chickens is improving egg laying because it is an important mineral in the process of laying eggs by stimulating the laying of eggs with a healthy hard shell.
2. Magnesium
Magnesium is an important mineral for silkies. It increases the energy and vitality of them and supports heart health. It also helps the silkie chickens to relax and sleep better.
3. Antioxidants
Antioxidants are important for a healthy chicken, as they help boost the chicken’s immunity and resistance to disease. This is by fighting free radicals that damage cells in the body, as well as preventing and slowing down cell damage caused by free radicals and unstable molecules in the body. Antioxidants also work to reduce inflammation.
4. Vitamin B12
Bananas provide a healthy boost of vitamin B12 for chickens. It is one of the vitamins that improve nerve functions and promotes healthy skin. It also increases the energy and activity of chickens and supports liver functions. In addition, it is an element that is also important for eye health.
5. Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 contributes to the formation of some hormones such as serotonin and noradrenaline, which are the hormones responsible for the production of happiness and relaxation hormones.
Vitamin B6 is also a vitamin that supports a healthy nervous system.
6. Various nutrients
Bananas are also a good source of carbohydrates, fiber, and sugar. It also contains respectable levels of protein, omega-3 and omega-6 fats, and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
How To Serve Bananas To Silkie Chickens?
Here are some tips that will help you serve bananas to your silkie chicken in an un harmful way:
Choose A Healthy Banana
First, you must choose fresh, healthy bananas, which do not contain rotten or moldy parts, as some people may overlook this point and not care about that, as they throw damaged or rotten bananas left in the refrigerator to their silkies, thinking that they will not be affected by mold-like humans unless that is not true.
Rotten or moldy bananas harm silkie chicken, and this may lead to digestive disorders such as bloating, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. If you already have bananas that have moldy parts, you can remove these parts first, and then you can safely feed them to the chicken.
Choose Not Fully Ripened Banana
It is preferable to choose bananas that are not fully ripe, as they are more solid, and are better in terms of texture and eating. Bananas are by nature a soft fruit, and if they are fully ripe or you have bought them for a long time, they will be more tender, which makes them not the best choice for silkie chicken.
You will find that banana puree blocks silkie chicken’s nose and beak, which means that they cannot clean it and may annoy them.
Removal Of Peel
Although banana peels contain some nutrients, it is preferable to remove the banana peel, because it contains pesticides that are sprayed on bananas during their growth stages. These pesticides harm silkie chickens and sometimes causes poisoning if its concentration is high.
In the event that you want to offer banana peels to your silkie chickens, you must boil them first to get rid of any pesticide residues. Then it can be safely cut and served to chicken. You can serve it without boiling, just cut it into small pieces if the bananas you have are organic and not treated with pesticides.
Cut Banana Into Small Pieces
Some may find that the bananas are soft and there is no need to cut them as the silkie chicken is able to scratch them easily. But that is not the reason to cut it. Remember, in the previous lines, we indicated that the number of bananas allowed for each chicken should not exceed a quarter or a fifth of a banana.
Therefore, bananas should be cut into small pieces and distributed as evenly as possible in front of your silkies so that none of the them overeat bananas.
Also, cutting bananas prevents the chickens at the top of the pecking order from seizing the banana fruit and devouring it on its own, which leads to injustice to the weak chickens below the pecking.
In hot weather, you can freeze bananas after the removal of their peel and then serve them cold to your silkies. It serves as a kind of healthy ice cream that cools their body heat and helps hydrate them during high temperatures.
Whereas, sillkies should not eat regular human ice cream because it contains milk that chickens cannot digest. So frozen bananas will be a healthy alternative to chicken on hot days.
What Is The Appropriate Rate For Serving Banana To Silkie Chicken?
Bananas should be offered to silkie chickens once to twice a week. As a kind of entertainment and reward for the chickens besides their basic feed. In general, fruits should not exceed 10% of chicken food, and in the case of bananas, it should not exceed 5% of silkie chicken food.
Since chickens are not like us humans, their bodies are very small and are affected by any increase in banana intake quickly. Excessive consumption of bananas exposes silkie chickens to health problems, which we will learn about in the next paragraph.
Risk Factors Of Feeding Silkie Chickens Too Many Bananas
Here are some risks that you need to know before feeding a banana to your silkie chicken:
Harm From Excess Sugar
Bananas contain a large amount of sugar. The sugar in sour crops reduces the efficiency of digestion. It also leads to obesity in chickens. Keep in mind that silkie chickens cannot get rid of the huge amounts of sugar that enter them from bananas.
Thus, blood sugar rises, which leads to high blood pressure and cascading complications such as heart disease and fatty liver, which becomes fragile and eventually explode. Increased blood sugar also leads to a defect in the formation of eggs. Where the size of the eggs varies between large and small, and the eggshell becomes thin and tender.
Digestive Problems
Eating too many bananas leads to diarrhea and may lead to sour crops, which reduces the efficiency of digestion in the crop which is the stage or stage of food digestion in silkie chickens. The pH of a healthy chicken crop is about 5.5. It is the appropriate pH for the growth of bacteria that plays its role in breaking down food.
When eating large quantities of bananas, the acidity inside the crop changes and becomes more acidic, which leads to an imbalance in the crop system, and the process of breaking down food is reduced.
