Milk-fed chickens don't drink milk

[Fat Guy]

In a recent "Diner's Journal" blog entry, Frank Bruni, the chief dining critic for the New York Times, gets to the bottom of "milk-fed chicken."

Needless to say, as chickens aren't mammals, they don't drink the milk of their mothers. But, it also turns out, they don't drink milk at all, and certainly not exclusively. Rather, powdered milk is mixed into the feed.

[TAPrice]

Actual improvement or utter hype? I'm skeptical. Has anyone actually tasted these birds? Done a side by side comparison? Even Bruni implies that it may all be bull:

From that standpoint, in fact, there were positive effects, she said. As she’d expected, the milk made some of the birds grow a little fatter, and it seemed to lead to softer, more tender flesh. She said she also thought it produced a richer flavor.

....

“We don’t give milk to everybody,” she said. “We give milk to a specific breed.” That breed, she said, is Cornish poularde.

In contrast, she said, kosher king poularde doesn’t benefit from milk feeding. And she wouldn’t give milk to the ducks she raises. She said she just knows it wouldn’t be the right thing — wouldn’t produce meat that tasted the way she wants it to.

Emphasis added.

[petite tête de chou]

Meat-eating cows and now milk-eating chickens. Yucky.

[Fat Guy]

Actual improvement or utter hype? I'm skeptical. Has anyone actually tasted these birds? Done a side by side comparison?

←

Many of the better restaurants in New York use Four Story Hill Farm products, so I've tried the poularde and other poultry several times, but never in a serious comparison. No question, Four Story Hill Farm produces excellent stuff. Whether the milk helps, I have no idea.

[BryanZ]

Four Story Hill is my favorite poultry. As a general rule I much, much prefer milk-fed chicken, but this could be a result of the skill in which it is prepared.

[rooftop1000]

I think I remember them feeding chicks mash made with milk in the Little House on the Prarie books....my go to guide for pioneer history of course, if it was good enough for Ma....

tracey

[davebrown]

Meat-eating cows and now milk-eating chickens. Yucky.

←

Indeed. This way madness lies. Unfortunately, literally.

[BarbaraY]

There's nothing new about chickens getting milk. I remember my grandmother feeding the chickens the buttermilk left from churning because there was more than we needed.

The chickens tasted really good but then they lived on the ground in a chicken coop!

[Adam Balic]

Unfortunately the article dosn't investigate what the "powdered milk" actually is. Is it a whole milk product or is a more refined product like whey or milk replacement formula for instance?

Chickens don't have the necessary enzymes to use lactose as an efficient energy source, it you are lactose intolerant you can guess what fresh milk would do to the chickens. If they have the right bacteria in the gut, these can break down lactose and the chickens can take advantage of this. You can also add lactose specific enzymes to the feed. Whey is obviously a big by-product of cheese so there is much use of it in livestock feeds. Many commercial poultry feeds have whey that actually have an increased amount of lactose (compared to mammalian feeds) to deal with it's poor conversion rate.

I'm not sure of the legal definition if "milk" in the USA, but it might be possible that people using quite commercial poultry feed could claim "milk fed" if whey et al falls under the legal definition of "milk"?

Desriptions I have seen of more tradional methods of adding milk to poultry diets includes leaving the milk to "turn", which means that the lactose has been removed by the bacteria present in the milk. The milk ends up looking like sloppy cottage cheese.This Link shows some chickens being fed on milk in a more traditional manner, and demonstrates that actually some "milk fed" chickens are actually milk fed. It would be interesting to compare the flavour and texture of the tradional and formular milk fed chickens.

Also feeding chickens with milk isn't a new thing or a specifically French thing. There are many descriptions if feeding milk to poultry in UK an USA sources, in fact most historical descriptions on poultry fattening seem to mention milk or skim milk.

"...cramming them [chickens] with fine down corn made in rolls and dipped in milk; they are received by all people as the finest of poultry"

I don't know enough about the early 20th century poultry industry, by I would guess that "milk" in the form of whey and other dairy based by-products has always been part of a feed mix for commercial poultry. If the farm in question is using dried milk in the form of veal milk replacement formula, I can't see that this is any different to using "dairy" based chicken feeds, such as described in this link which is used on a commercial basis.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Adam Balic (log)

[pansophia]

There are simply practical uses to adding milk to poultry feed as well. Hubby and I just got two laying hens for our suburban backyard and are trying to raise them as organically as possible. One of the recommendations we've received is to use powdered milk 50/50 with their feed as a coccidiostat. Since we've seen the results of coccidia first hand in our dog several times, we're willing to try anything!

Granted, since they aren't crammed into a little box surrounded by hundreds of other hens, our two have stayed pretty healthy naturally so far. Four weeks til egg laying should begin!