The chickens eat most of the fruits and vegetables.
The cabbage is one of the most favorite food for the chickens.
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Despite this, several owners enquire about it.
Can chickens eat cabbage? Yes, chickens like to eat cabbage very much.
You can say it is one of their most like foodstuffs.
Cabbage is a nutritional, healthy, green, and leafy vegetable.
The chickens like to eat cabbage as a great treat for them.
Cabbage is one of the most healthy food for the chickens.
If you want a healthy production of eggs from your hens, you need to provide the right nutritional foods.
These foods should necessarily contain all the required nutrients like protein, vitamins, minerals, and salts.
A healthy and nutritious diet will provide the proper growth of the animals and keep them away from deficiency diseases.
The green cabbage contains all such essential nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.
It also contains various minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
These minerals are critical for the proper and balanced growth of the chickens.
You can complete the requirements of all the nutrients by feeding green cabbage to your chickens.
Fixing a Correct Portion of Diet
You can set the diet of the chickens with the help of an expert.
You should not just start feeding them.
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It is essential to understand the food portions’ nutritional value and the intake requirement of the animals.
If you feed more than their energy requirement, then the animals will become obese.
Once an obese chicken can never be a healthy chicken.
If you are not familiar with diet specifics, the label of the food packet generally provides reasonable information.
Keep this information as a reference, and you can schedule the diet intake quantity by yourself—the main factor in deciding the amount of food required for the chickens.
The correct portions of food twice or thrice a day is sufficient as per their age.
Provision of Sunlight
When the hen lays eggs, the essential part of their diet is the availability of sunlight.
If the sunlight is available in plenty, then the hen can lay good quality and healthy eggs of proper size.
You should provide a suitable coop where the sunlight enters for a few hours daily.
But you should keep an eye that the temperature of the coop is not increasing to harm the chickens.
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The availability of space is the next factor in keeping the chickens healthy.
If the space is available, they will explore their surrounding area and keep them active all day long.
Keeping a dust bath box is also an additional idea.
The chickens will keep jumping and playing in the sand.
These activities will keep them interested and active, which will stretch their muscles.
Once you provide them good nutritional food and space for physical activities, automatically, you will have healthy chickens.
A healthy chicken will ensure you a healthy egg.
Obesity in Chickens: Too many Treats and Pampering
Some chicken owners do not have basic knowledge of the nutritional values of different food items.
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They keep pampering them and keep giving food.
Instead of providing food twice or thrice a day, they happen to feed them five or six times.
They have no idea about how the special diet is going to result in the chickens’ health.
Giving frequent treats of high-calorie foods keeps the chicken full all the time.
Due to massive eating, he doesn’t take an interest in exercise, and he keeps becoming more and more obese.
Very soon, the chickens become obese and fat.
They start getting other diseases like diabetes. Ultimately, it shortens their life.
So, the owners must understand the dangerous effects of extra feeding of chickens.
Life Expectancy of Chickens
Today the life expectancy of the chickens has increased.
They live longer than the chickens of our parents’ days.
The increase in life expectancy has become possible due to the additional information available about the health of the chickens.
Better medicines are available today.
Many diseases that were not known a few decades before are known now, and treatment is possible.
Better healthcare has increased the average life expectancy of the chickens.
According to a 2004 study in the United States, a backyard chicken lives for an average of 8 years.
The more shocking fact is that more than 69% of chicken owners state that they keep the chicken, not for egg production but for entertainment purposes.
The life expectancy of a chicken primarily depends on two factors that includes diet and physical exercise.
For chickens’ health, exercise is the most critical factor in keeping them healthy.
The second important factor is nutritional food.
Nutritious food provides the chicken required energy for the grown and protect it from various deficiency diseases.
Physical Exercises for Chickens
The chickens’ life expectancy depends on food and physical exercise.
It is essential to keep them in the proper coop for safety reasons.
But you have to ensure that they get sufficient access to the open space where they can hop around and dig into the soil.
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Digging in the sand and running around is essential for the proper growth of the muscles.
Dangers of Overeating for Chickens
We can say almost with certainty that the health problem of the chicken starts with overeating and too many treats.
Many treats result in the increased appetite of the chickens and not involved in physical exercises.
It further accelerates the rate of getting obese.
Several immediate negative side-effects of obesity are infertility, heatstroke, haemorrhagic syndrome, and oversized eggs.
Obesity can result in extra fat deposition in the body and affect blood circulation.
It can be fatal, especially during summer, when the temperature is high.
The chicken finds it difficult to breathe correctly. It may cause instant death.
Conclusion
Hence, it is essential to provide just the correct nutritional diet to the chickens and must avoid any overeating and over-treating.
Once the chicken is obese, it can never become a healthy chicken again.
Obesity will affect the health of the chickens negatively and may shorten their life expectancy.
So, the ultimate mantra of keeping the chickens healthy is the proper and balanced diet.
