Chickens Fav Treats!!!!

[Farm Girl 1]

Are there any kinds of good homemade mashes for the chickens? I give them barley mixed with water, so I was wondering if there are any other good kinds of mash I could make.

 

[DianaMallory]

Just started giving mine treats I was giving them meal worms and they love them. They finally got to go out in their run this weekend, and I noticed they were pecking at one corner of the run. I realized they were trying to get the sunflower seedlings from under the tree were I feed the birds and chipmunks. There is a pile of sunflower I thought were just shells until it rained on them and they started sprouting. So I took a shovel and scooped up a couple shovel fulls and put them in a panand the girls went nuts!




And as you can see nothing left but the dirt!

 

[DianaMallory]

Are there any kinds of good homemade mashes for the chickens? I give them barley mixed with water, so I was wondering if there are any other good kinds of mash I could make.

I use to give my other flock oatmeal with fruit or yogurt mixed with it.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

Can you only use vanilla yogurt or could I give them a flavored type?

 

[sunflower4you]

True story: I tossed two pieces of fresh corn on the cob (about 3" pieces) to the girls 2 days ago...nothing...nada...zip. They looked at them and never even took a peck at them!! I thought 'how silly you girls are' and left them there. Yesterday afternoon, all of a sudden, one of the 4 girls took a peck...it was ON!! My girls are just soo silly when it comes to a new 'treat'. Had to laugh!!

The other day I gave my girls corn on the cob for the first time and they thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Later when I came to check on them they had pecked EVERY SINGLE KERNEL off the cob. The funny thing is that I had sprinkled some canned corn in their run a week earlier (my 3yo boy's uneaten supper leftovers) and they pecked at it, but didn't eat it! Chickens are ridiculous sometimes.

 

[iwiw60]

The other day I gave my girls corn on the cob for the first time and they thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Later when I came to check on them they had pecked EVERY SINGLE KERNEL off the cob. The funny thing is that I had sprinkled some canned corn in their run a week earlier (my 3yo boy's uneaten supper leftovers) and they pecked at it, but didn't eat it! Chickens are ridiculous sometimes.

Yes, they like 'fresh' for sure...spoiled little brats!!

Did you see my post from yesterday about corn on the cob? When I pit-stopped at the local produce stand I asked one of the guys if he had any corn that was "not so good" that'd he'd sell to me...he said sure, follow me. I ended up buying 16 ears of corn for 2 bucks! When I got home I shucked them all, cut them into thirds, and froze 2 pieces each into baggies. Now this winter when it's so cold in the run I can occasionally give them a treat of fresh corn .. they'll go ballistic!

 

[birdman55]

unflavored yogurt is great and does more then just feed the birds...also if you want a good source of fresh food take this idea and run with it...roll out metal chicken wire normally the more sturdy kind thicker the better...I used two inch by four inch and four feet wide and forty feet long....put two by fours under the sides and middle...stand them up so they are not short end down and staple them together...place some seed down and dirt on top and water ....after two weeks you have a hedge of whatever it is you planted...I used wheat...but you can use rye soybean and so on...this is how it looks they will lay on it as well...sometimes all thirty birds in the pen which are free range will be on this little strip....
also a good apple tree and grape vines will supplement the birds and you can still have some for yourself if they leave you any.....last year there was ten birds in the apple tree just eating away at the fruit...and you can hold the grapes in the cluster about four feet high and they will jump and grab them its so funny to watch they close there eyes when they jump...funny stuff....

 

[Farm Girl 1]

Can they eat flavored yogurt?

 

[iwiw60]

Can they eat flavored yogurt?

I would say no...stick with plain.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

Would flavored yogurt have harmful ingredients?