What NOT to feed?

[QHGirl]

Hi Everyone,
What shouldn't we feed our chickens? What are the huge no-no's?
Also, at what age can we start giving treats? Mine are just over three weeks old.
They recieve one scrambled egg on Sunday for the past two weeks.
Thank you,
Shannon

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You don't want to feed anything moldy as it can kill chickens. Nothing spoiled. Stale is OK.

High sugar items aren't good for them. I don't feed chocolate. Everyone says avocado peels and seeds are toxic.

You can give them treats anytime. They need grit or free ranging for their grit if they will be eating whole grains/scratch or grass clippings (keep very very short to prevent impacted crop). They don't need grit for eating eggs or commercial feed.

I don't worry about treats when they are less than 8 weeks of age. Really they need the protein at this point of their chick feed. I DO give grass clippings starting at one week of age with some chick grit, to give them vitamins. I make sure they are as short as I can make them.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh there is a treat chart on BYC. Maybe do a search to see if you can find it- it may be in the learning center??

 

[BeanHen]

Here's the page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

 

[CrazyTalk]

Here's the page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

The problem is that there's no real backing to that chart - it's all just hearsay. There's stuff on there listed as good treats (like yogurt - chickens can't digest lactose) that are bad, and things listed as dangerous that just aren't.

A good quality poultry mix should be most of your birds intake - treats are useful for training, but from a nutritional sense, they're all worse than just feeding mix. The best treats are meat, followed by bugs, then seeds and grains, and then veggies. Chickens are more carnivore than herbivore.

 

[QHGirl]

Thank you all so much! I appreciate the help!