Should chickens eat pistachio nuts?

We have some left over pistachio nuts from Christmas. If I shell them, can my chickens eat them?

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Permalink Reply by dan straight on February 11, 2009 at 6:41pm

i dont see a problem with it there is a pistachio farm down the road from me and they kept chickens in the same field

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Permalink Reply by Sue Wefel on February 11, 2009 at 8:26pm

I have parrots, and as long as there is no salt on the pistachio nut, it should be a great treat for them. Not too many, as they are high in fat, but a few should be just fine, I would think.

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Permalink Reply by Lori on February 11, 2009 at 9:41pm

Thank-you both so much. I am going to see if they like them tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on February 12, 2009 at 12:00pm

Like Sue said, be sure they aren't salted. Rather than shelling them, I'd just put them on a hard surface and step on them, let the chickens pick out the nuts. Save yourself some time! :)

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Permalink Reply by Lori on February 12, 2009 at 3:34pm

Does salt hurt them? We have started giving them some table scraps/ food my kids decided they didn't like/ etc... - I thought I remembered from chicken class that these were all right - do I need to be concerned about the salt content in the scraps?

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on February 13, 2009 at 1:14pm

Salt is bad for chickens, they don't process it in the same way as mammals and increased sodium can lead to problems. It won't hurt them in small quantities, but it is something you should be conscious of. Table scraps are generally okay.