[Markw]

I would just like to see what other members think about giving raw coconut to their girls.
I spent some time a few years back in the Pacific, The chickens used to live off coconuts and just free ranging. and boy did those eggs taste good.

I actually take pure coconut oil , and I must say that it is one of the best oils I have taken, it is high in protein and zero in cholesterol plus antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal . very good for the digestive disorders .

Anyway I was thinking that when my girls arrive I would try them on raw coconut as either treats or as a supplement. I can buy 50 coconuts from a close friend who imports them for well under £20. They keep very well .

Has has anyone on the forum tried this or has any further information, I see that in the States they have a cocofeed for chickens.

Any feedback would be most welcome.

[bantam novice]

Never tried this myself but sounds interesting. 

[bood77]

give them it not all the time but use it i am sure they will eat it.

[Markw]

Yes it is interesting, they mostly ate the white meat and the owner would put the coconut water in a drinking bowel for them. I will never forget that nearly every egg was a double yolker, mind you I expect that eating all the coconut had nothing to do with that.

Here is a link if anyone is interested on the nutrient  balance  of raw coconut meat. I would just like to hear other members views in the subject

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3106/2

[joyfull]

it appears to be very high in saturated fat which is not good for us or chickens 

[Markw]

Hi Joyfull.

Please don't think I was planning on feeding the girls on only coconuts. It was an idea, I have been taking coconut oil for over a couple of years now. It might be high in fats but they are good fats. Just Google Coconut Oil Health and have a read. I have lost over 2 stone and have never felt better.

When I was in coconut land the main diet for most animals was mainly coconut, they hardly got sick, did not suffer from worms or parasites much.

I have worked in a large Hospital and a lot of the staff were starting to take it, so it can't be that bad. there is some fantastic reading on the subject.

Shame I plant them up on the allotment.

[Mickle]

Hello Markd
Sounds good and I shall definitely have a look..

Joyfull, Information available in the Weston.A.Price foundation seem to disagree with your statement on saturated fats.

[joyfull]

but the link that markW put on clearly states the following:-

The bad: This food is very high in Saturated Fat.
A serving size of 80g (yes I know his chickens would not have 80g but they also are not as big as a human so this would have to be worked out pro rata) gives you 24g of saturated fat which is 119% of your daily intake.
 

[Markw]

Hi Joyfull
Yes but it is what the saturated fats are made up of, either long chain fatty acids or medium chain fatty acids nearly all the fatty acid in coconut is medium chain, I think that the protein is not far behind Soy bean which is one of the main ingredients of animal food and poultry pellets.

The Amion Acid Score is 87% out of 100

[joyfull]

it would appear that even the experts cant agree as according to this website:-

http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2008/09/25/2372372.htm

coconut oil will raise LDL cholesterol levels (the bad sort) and also raise the HDL cholesterol levels but not as much as unsaturated fats (the good guys).

I personally wouldn't give my hens coconut after having seen photos of a culled bird that had severe fat issues all around her organs (thanks Aggy and Karl for publishing those - they were really gross)

[Mickle]

Its a debatable issue
I was once informed that the Australian Aboriginal had the Lowest cholesterol levels and the highest rate of CVD

And as far as too much Saturated fat being bad for you, try telling the Inuit

Info:-
Indigenous Australians have a dyslipidaemia which includes small LDL and very low HDL-cholesterol levels. The dyslipidaemia was equally severe in both genders. Strategies aimed at increasing HDL-cholesterol and LDL size may reduce high CVD risk for indigenous populations

Excuse me for being a cynic
Maybe its all a ploy to get people to buy more processed rubbish that contains water and chemicals.

Mick
but Grumpy if you prefer

[joyfull]

please could you put where the information came from when copying text as google takes a dim view of just cutting and pasting. I assume you may have got your information from one of the following pages:-
http://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(08)00166-4/abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18599067

or from this report (which I assume the other two pages have gleaned their information from):-

Australian Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders have an atherogenic lipid profile that is characterised by low HDL-cholesterol level and small LDL particles. 
O'Neal DN, Piers LS, Iser DM, Rowley KG, Jenkins AJ, Best JD, O'Dea K Atherosclerosis 368-77 201 2008
Indigenous Australians have a dyslipidaemia which includes small LDL and very low HDL-cholesterol levels. The dyslipidaemia was equally severe in both genders. Strategies aimed at increasing HDL-cholesterol and LDL size may reduce high CVD risk for indigenous populations.
The University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia. dno@unimelb.edu.au

As I said even the experts cannot agree so therefore after having seen the effects on a culled chicken which was severely overweight and having a heavy fat build up I would refrain from feeding my hens anything that could possibly bring about this.

[Mickle]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18599067
Was the link I used for clarity on Cholesterol thinking

Any chicken that over fed will probably display the same fat build up on the intestines it doesn't have to be a high fat content diet to put it there , domestic Geese intestines are usually mired in the stuff after a diet of grass., to no apparent detriment to the Goose.

[joyfull]

that was the second link that I posted 

[joyfull]

reading that - which is using the work work from Melbourne University it shows that they had an artherogenic lipid profile (showing low HDL and small LDL levels) which according to this website:-
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/ar1952.pdf

are a feature characteristic of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Now I am not a Doctor nor scientist so could be reading this wrong but as I said I would not feed it to my hens.