Anyone use hickory nuts as supplemental animal feed?

[Botar]

We have lots of hickory trees on our land and find ourselves walking on a carpet of hickory nuts in various spots. The adult pigs seem to like them, but the shells are too hard for the younger piggies or any of the other animals. Just curious to see if anyone uses them as a supplemental food source and, if so, how do you go about cracking the nuts? I believe it would make a great supplement for the chickens/ducks/geese as well ... anything to extend the food budget.

 

[Denim Deb]

We have a few hickories around here, but I've never been able to collect any nuts-the squirrels always beat me to them.

 

[Botar]

Well, like I mentioned, we've got a lot, including the "shag bark" hickory which has large oblong nuts that are actually quite tasty. If we can find a reasonable way to harvest and crack, I believe it will work out nicely for us.

 

[Wannabefree]

Good luck, we have those too, and they are like trying to break into Fort Knox :/

 

[Denim Deb]

Main ones that we have are mockernut.