4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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409 answers in Feeding & Nutrition — page 14 of 18
Yes to salt, certainly — horses need sodium every day, and grass, hay and plain feeds supply very little. Offer plain salt free-choice, loose in a small tub or as a block under shelter near water, because horses take loose salt in more reliably than they can lick a hard block with a soft tongue — and a horse in work,…
Yes — watermelon is a safe and much-loved summer treat, and horses can eat the rind and seeds as well as the sweet red flesh. It is mostly water, which makes it a refreshing extra on a hot day, but the flesh still carries sugar, so a couple of wedges is a treat and a whole melon is a feed change. Cut it into pieces a…
Yes — sweet potato is safe for horses, raw or cooked, and its firm orange flesh makes a satisfying treat with less sugar than many stable-yard favourites. Do not confuse it with ordinary white potato, a different plant, and one to keep out of the feed room. Peel or scrub the skin, cut the flesh into chunks a horse can…
Yes — swede, the hard yellow-fleshed root also sold as rutabaga, is a traditional horse feed and perfectly safe for most horses. The important detail is shape: never feed it in thick round slices or whole chunks, because a smooth disc of root is exactly the size and texture that can lodge in the throat. Scrub off the…
Yes — strawberries are a safe treat for horses, fed the way you would offer them to a person: washed, with the leafy top pulled off. A small handful is plenty, because the berries carry natural sugar and a greedy horse will bolt them whole; halve the biggest ones and hand them over one at a time on a flat palm. Skip…
Yes — horses can eat pumpkin, flesh and seeds alike, and many relish it as a seasonal extra. Cut it into chunks and pick off the stem, which is tough enough to be a choking worry, and never offer a carved pumpkin that has sat out going mouldy, because mould is the real hazard in this treat. Start with a few chunks…
Yes — peppermints are among the safest treats you can offer a horse, and most horses love the strong mint flavour. They are essentially sugar, though, so keep it to one or two at a time as a reward or a pocket bribe for catching, never a handful tipped into the feed. Read the wrapper of any new brand first, avoid…
Yes — horses can eat pears, and a ripe pear quartered is a gentle, juicy treat most horses enjoy. Wash the fruit and cut it into quarters or wedges before offering it; coring is a good habit mainly because it keeps the pieces a manageable size for a keen horse to chew rather than bolt. Pears are sugary like other ripe…
Yes — horses can eat peaches, but only the flesh, and only after you have removed the stone. The stone is the whole story with stone fruit: it is a choking lump in its own right, and the kernel inside it carries compounds no horse should be eating. Halve the peach, twist out the stone, wash the fruit and offer the…
Yes — horses can eat parsnips, and the scrubbed root is a traditional winter treat in many yards. Wash the root well, trim away the leafy tops and feed only the root itself, cut lengthwise into sticks so no piece is a round lump. Parsnips taste sweeter than they smell and carry a carrot-like sugar load, so a stick or…
Yes — horses can eat melon rind, and a good number prefer its crunch to the sweet flesh it came off. Watermelon rind is lower in sugar than the red flesh, which makes it a useful treat for horses whose sugar is watched, though it still counts as a treat rather than a feed. Wash the outside of the melon before anyone…
Yes — horses can eat green beans, provided they are fresh ones, washed and offered in small handfuls. Fresh green beans are the only version that counts: canned beans come packed with salt, and dried raw beans of other kinds are not suitable horse food at all. Snap the beans into short pieces, introduce them a few at…
Yes — horses can eat cucumber, and its mild, watery crunch makes it a kind warm-weather treat. Slice it lengthwise into spears rather than across into rounds, so no piece is the round, plug-like shape that can trouble a keen horse's gullet. Cucumber is low in sugar, which earns it a place in the buckets of…
Yes — horses can eat celery, and it is one of the best treats going for a horse whose sugar intake is watched. It is crisp, hydrating and very low in sugar compared with apples or carrots, which is exactly why vets often point easy keepers toward it. The one preparation that matters is cutting it into short pieces —…
Yes — horses can eat carrots, and they are probably the most universally loved treat on any yard. Cut them lengthwise into sticks instead of slicing them into round coins: a disc of carrot is the shape most likely to lodge in a greedy horse's gullet. Carrots carry more sugar than their healthy image suggests, so a…
Yes — horses can eat bananas, and the washed peel is safe for those who will take it. The soft flesh suits older horses and poor teeth, though the unfamiliar texture means some horses sniff, mouth and reject it a time or two before deciding. Bananas bring useful potassium but also real sugar, so treat one banana, cut…
Yes — horses can eat apples, and they remain the treat most horses would vote for. Cut each apple into wedges rather than offering it whole: a keen horse bolting a large piece can choke on it, and slicing takes seconds. The core causes no realistic harm at treat scale, but the sugar deserves respect, so keep it to an…
Yes — chickens can eat yogurt, as long as it is plain, unsweetened and served in spoonfuls rather than bowls. Because yogurt is fermented, much of its milk sugar is already broken down, which makes a small serving far easier on a hen's digestion than straight milk. Offer it in a shallow dish, let the flock finish it…
Yes — watermelon is a safe, cooling treat for chickens, and a hot flock will usually fall on it the moment it lands. Hens eat the sweet flesh, swallow the small seeds without any trouble, and carry on pecking into the pale rind once the centre is gone, so a halved melon on the ground needs almost no preparation from…
Yes for the ripe fruit — and a firm no for the rest of the plant. A ripe tomato is a juicy, well-loved treat, but green unripe tomatoes, leaves and stems carry solanine, the nightshade compound that makes those parts unsafe for chickens. Wash ripe fruit, halve cherry tomatoes for smaller hens, keep portions modest…
Yes — chickens can eat sweetcorn on the cob, loose-kernelled, fresh, frozen or cooked, and a whole cob keeps beaks busy for a good while. Corn on the cob hung or wedged in the run doubles as enrichment; kernels cut off suit bantams and young birds better. Canned sweetcorn is the one form to rinse well or skip, because…
Yes — sunflower seeds are a firm flock favourite, and black oil sunflower seeds are the best buy, with thin shells hens crack easily and oily kernels that support feather condition. That oil is also the limit: seeds are energy-dense, so a scattered handful per hen is a treat, not a feed replacement, and striped seeds…
Yes — chickens can eat pumpkin flesh and seeds, and a halved pumpkin in the run is an afternoon's entertainment as well as a feed. The orange flesh is rich in vitamin A, and hens will work right through to the rind. One caution: the old claim that pumpkin seeds worm a flock is folklore, not a substitute for proper…
Yes — peas are a wholesome treat that chickens tackle with gusto, fresh from the pod or thawed from frozen. They bring decent protein and vitamins for a vegetable, and frozen peas tipped into a shallow dish of water make a cooling game on a hot afternoon. Two forms need a second thought: hard dried peas, which should…
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