Watermelon :-) What treats do your chickens love? - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tritia 

Ok..we tried the watermelon. Even made a special trip to the store to get them some.

SCARED TO DEATH! lol

Poor things! Wasn't even a big piece that we put in there. And they huddled in the corner, refusing to even look at it!!

We even tried breaking it up in little bits..and they still wouldn't try it.

Sometimes you can use your finger to act like mama hen's beak and "peck" at what you want them to try.  Make the excited bawk-bawk sound that hens use to say "Come and get it!"  We did this with week old chicks this spring and showed them how to eat aphids off of kale leaves. Eventually, a brave chick will try it and the rest will follow.

Now, at three months, they can't wait to be let out of the run, and race across the yard to the cherry tree to pick at the fruit that's fallen under the tree.  Nothing creates more commotion than giving them a potato bug.  It's like watching kids play tag, everyone chases the lucky bird with the bug! 

Grapes, lettuce, any grains that we have leftovers, but really and truely raisins. It is my 'chicken call' I rattle the box, and they come running.

Also a favorite treat is yogurt with oatmeal and raisins, or any old fruit. They beg like hound dogs!

Peaches and pears!

I get bum-rushed every time they see me bringing a peach or pear into the yard.....

Ours love cheese.

What a horrid mistake to take some that I was snacking on out to the chicken yard today......

Resulted in chickens flying at the cheese.

"Show me the cheese!!!!"  - Trixie the Buff Orpinton, 2012

My chickens LOVE bread.

I just might let them try some watermelon.

Meatloaf and tomatoes.

"The chicken that has the treat believes in capitalism.  The ones that don't have the treat believe in communism." ~A friend watching my chickens fight over a grape (inspite of the fact that I was offering a handful of other grapes).

Mine are willing to try anything they're offered.  Particular favorites seem to be watermelon, cooked corn on the cob, or mashed potatoes.  They also go nuts for my "Happy Chick Pie", which is where I mix their feed, BOSS, and hulled oats into plain yogurt and then garnish with dried mealworms.  They lick the pie plate clean.  We've also fed them tortillas, bread (fresh or stale, but never moldy), strawberries, blueberries...  Pretty much, as long as it isn't drowned in perservatives, salts, or processed sugars.. if it's safe for you to eat, they can eat it.

Okay, so I had a half a watermelon in the fridge that wasn't bad, it was just a little past prime, so on your recommendation I fed it to my girls.  Would you believe they were afraid of it?!!!  My little ones (4-6 weeks) figured it out pretty quickly, but the big girls (3 1/2 months old) clucked in a very alarmed way.  ATTACK OF THE KILLER WATERMELON!!

Maybe if I sprinkled mealworms on the melon...  Oh gosh!  That's one of those things I never would have said before I had chickens!

--Nikki
 

Oh, an update on my chicken chickens!  Watermelon is scary, but they caught, killed, and ate a garter snake today.  Chickens are strange people...