How Much Fruit and Veggies is good for a Chicken?

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3KillerBs

3KillerBs

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My new job is attending a farm stand. Waste produce I take home is waste produce that the farm doesn't have to send a truck to pick up so I can have all the overripe melons, overripe tomatoes, wormy ears of corn, 3-day-old strawberries, limp green beans, etc. that I want to collect on my workdays.

I'm only going to have 4 hens (meeting tomorrow with the woman who is raising the chicks for me), so I don't need anywhere near a busy farm stand's total wastage. How much is a reasonable amount of produce for a chicken to have in a day? Or, alternately, how many chickens does it take to eat a bruised cantaloupe? (Too much rain in Florida last week -- have a whole bin so waterlogged and overripe that they're bruising under their own, juicy weight).
 
Usually it is recommended to limit treats to 10% of a chicken's diet. Granted, fruits and veggies are nutritious -- but they provide little or no protein.
 
flockwatcher said:
Usually it is recommended to limit treats to 10% of a chicken's diet. Granted, fruits and veggies are nutritious -- but they provide little or no protein.
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Sorry, but thats really not true, virtually all fruits and veggies have protein in them, more so veggies. Alot of veggies have a decent amount in them; although not the levels that are chicks need to grow, but alot of them have more than I thought. I've been thinking of dropping meat from my diet that I don't raise or hunt, so have looked into it lately.
 
I don't know that, I would still do what flockwatcher said and use it more as a treat than as a supplement persay. But just google protein in fruits and veggies, most green veggies and legumes are the best, fruits are relatively lowish in protein
 
Can't someone give me a basic level of information on this?

Can one hen eat a tomato? Two tomatoes?

Can one hen eat two pickling cucumbers? Two ears of wormy sweet corn?

How many hens does it take to eat a cantaloupe? A watermelon?

Isn't there some general figure someone can name between one string bean and a whole pound of them for one hen?

I'm not trying to concoct a scientifically-measured diet. I just want to know if I should think in terms of a coffee cup or a coffee can for each hen.
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Well, most production birds from what I've heard, eat about 3-4 pounds of food a week, and flockwatcher stated to limit it to 10% of the diet which seems about right to me. So, 6-8 pounces of treats a week, which I would call most fruits a treat. I think you could safely add a decent amount of veggies to the diet though since they aren't free ranging.
 
My four hens could make easy work of a melon in a few hours.. I have to watch how much table food I give them or they stop eatting the chicken food altogether. Also the Pooo gets runny with too much fruit and veggies..O yes veggies and fruit do have protein.. my grandson has PKU and we have to count all the protien he eats in a day.. Apples and melons are about the lowest in protien , dark leafy greens and beans have lots of protein.
 
My baby RIR girls are 4 weeks old. When can I start giving them fruit and veggies? Should I be feeding them a protein, if so what is the best thing I can choose? I really don't want them eating a lot of meat. Unless it is necessary.
 

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