Poultry do have taste buds but only enough to taste ‘ bitter’

It’s in our nature to spoil our favourite animals. One way a lot of poultry owners do this is by feeding their flock ‘ treats’.

“They love them!” is a common comment to see on poultry forums I contribute to. People enjoy seeing their birds run up and greedily gobble down something extra, but it’s not the same reason you might have for scoffing down a slice of cake or a handful of chips.

Poultry do have taste buds, on average 240-360 compared to a human’s 10,000. Only two per cent are on a bird’s tongue, the rest are on the palate (69 per cent), the cheeks and the floor of the mouth around the salivary glands.

This small number gives poultry the ability to taste ‘bitter’ but very little else. So why do your flock rush to a treat food? There are its energy requirements (see page 71), but research shows poultry are genetically programmed to be competitive about food as a survival tactic. A study of hens comparing those feeding alone to ones feeding with another bird show they eat faster and will grab more at food when another bird is present.

Another reason is safety. In the wild, poultry risk being seen by a predator when

out in the open so it’s a matter of urgency to eat and get back to a secure position.

“You are what you eat” is as true for poultry as it is for us and all other animals. To function at an optimum level, to grow and then stay at a healthy weight, to reproduce and to maintain a robust immune system requires a balanced diet. This is one which provides all the nutrients essential to a bird’s stage of life.

These requirements vary. Chicks need higher protein and low calcium. Adult hens need less protein and far higher levels of calcium.

The nutritional requirements of poultry have been well studied over the past 100 years. Avian nutritionists working for feed manufacturers are constantly looking at ways to optimise feed efficiency and investigate the best options for feeding both layer and meat birds.

You can easily benefit from all of this knowledge. The easiest thing to do is to choose a good quality, balanced feed designed for your flock’s age. Buy enough to last your flock a few weeks at a time as ingredients like vitamins and fats can become less nutritious as months go by.

Before we could buy feed in convenient bags, the small flock keeper had to make up their own from ingredients that were readily available locally. This meant a flock’s diet would vary throughout the year according to what grains and fruits were available and whether there was access to home-produced meat and milk. The nutritional value of the feed was mixed at best.

Poultry were also nothing like they are now. Intensive breeding programmes have created birds that lay far more eggs, more consistently, and that grow meat rapidly.

Poultry management is also different. Commercial flocks live in temperature, humidity and light-controlled housing, which means seasonal issues like moulting or lower production due to cold can be managed or avoided.

What to feed?

This is a common question for those new to poultry and my advice to anyone is to buy the best quality commercial feed you can source locally. This will be worthwhile for a number of reasons:

the nutrients are consistent all year round as the feed must meet minimum standards according to its specifications for protein, energy and vitamin/mineral levels;

the higher the energy and protein, the less the birds will need;

the micro ingredients (vitamins and minerals, which are hard to get right when doing it yourself) will be supplied at the levels required by the birds;

biotin, selenium and the right balance of calcium to phosphorous and vitamin D will be in the right proportions to be available for a bird to use;

you can buy specially formulated feed for the age of birds, eg starter with its low calcium for chick, layer with its lower protein and higher calcium for adult hens.