A friend gave me three garbage bags of almonds from his trees. We had a very early cold snap and many of the coverings (shucks?) are not open but pull apart easily to reveal the nut shell. They have begun to ferment slightly, today I put them on a board underneath a camper shell that is on stilts. Smells heavenly! My question is, can I feed my chickens these shucks? I gave them a few and they ate them but I don't know if I should be careful about how much I give them, or if it is safe to give them any more at all. The food I feed is all they want laying mash and a cup or so of chicken scratch twice a day. I have seven hens, my guess is I will end up with about 20lbs of these things. They are moist and some look like apricots but inside the nut is finished, but small. I have never seen almonds like this, my grandmother had almond trees but the husks always had dried and shriveled up before they were harvested. I feed my chickens scraps, small amounts as there are only two of us, as I have them. Thanks in advance!

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), October 11, 2000

Answers

Hi Tina, You can feed them to the chickens in small amounts at a time, probably no more than 4 cups at a time for 7 chickens, maybe a bit less. If there is any sign of mold present however, I'd put them on the compost pile, they won't go to waste there either, they'll rot nicely! Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), October 11, 2000.

I don't know but .... almonds have a reputation for containing hydrocyanic acid - which gives rise to cyanide - which kills things dead. I'd be careful. In fact, I'd give them a taste test myself, and if it tasted bitter I wouldn't let the livestock at it. That's bitter, not sour - I was surprised to find that three people I know well didn't know the difference between bitter and sour, and shocked that one of them was a brother and two of them were my sons. Still don't know whether that's an inherent deficiency, or whether they've just been sheltered.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 12, 2000.