[cherrypie]

hello, can anyone tell me why it is recomended to boil potato skins before giving them to the chucks and does it apply to all veg peelings?. they seem very slimy when they have been drained but the chucks seem to eat them.
thanks cherrypie

[GrannieAnnie]

I do occasionally give them to mine uncooked, but usually once boiled, I mix the skins with some cheapy oats or bran or the chook pellets to make them a lovely warm mash.  they love it!

[richyrich7]

I just thought it was to make it easier to digest as they can be quite tough, would they compact in the crop if not cooked?

But like grannie says they love it warm esp on a cold winters afternoon.

[Fat Hen]

Any pesticides used in the production of root veg will concentrate in the skin.

I always peel and bin peelings from root veg unless organic.  Boiling is supposed to destroy the pesticides however I am of a cynical & distrusting nature so prefer to bin.

Also potatoes contain very powerful toxins if allowed to go green, these again are likely to reside near the surface ie skin where sunlight can get to them, boiling should destroy 90 percent of this.  

The green bits of spuds may not particularly affect us but could probably have a drastic affect on a small animal (contains the same alkaloid as found in deadly nightshade, to which spuds & toms are closely related).