I often wondered, much like songbirds, if chickens lack a sense of taste. I learned about songbirds not having taste buds after trying to figure out how to keep the squirrels from eating all the food (to which the answer was: add hot pepper flakes and make it spicy).
Chickens do in fact have taste buds on their tongues and the floors of their mouths. Poultry are better at tasting additives dissolved in water than dry additives included in the feed. Poultry are, therefore, more likely to taste and refuse something in water than in their feed. What’s even more interesting is that chickens can’t taste spicy things!
So adding some red pepper flakes to your chicken feed not only won’t negatively affect them, but in fact it’s actually really good for them! As it turns out, red pepper contains capsaicin which helps chickens fight bacteria and worm infestation. Carotenoids in red pepper might also increase your chickens’ egg yolk color and health benefits. Red pepper flakes for chickens are high in vitamin C and may improve blood circulation.
Poultry are sensitive to the temperature of drinking water. They are likely to reject water with a temperature of around 90ºF or higher. Provision of cool water is important during hot weather to prevent heat stress. Poultry will drink cold water that is barely above the freezing point.