Feedback on Learning Center "Treats Chart"

[Buff Hooligans]

Your comments and suggestions for the Treats Chart are welcome. Please post them here.
Thanks, Buff Hooligans

The Treats Chart is here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...—the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens.47738/

 

[Debutante]

I love this chart. It's SO helpful for a quick reference guide! Thank you Buff. I turned it into an easily-printable PDF so that I could hang a copy in my kitchen and henhouse. Here's the PDF file in case anybody else wants to do the same...

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

Like everything that is on this site, we appreciate the care and trouble you went through!

Thanks
Randy and Brenda

 

[SandraChick]

You did a great job- I especially like how you dealt with differing opinions on treats by having a general opinion column.

Here are some comments-

Cat Food- should not be fed long term--can be good extra protein during molting

Fish/seafood- raw or cooked - too much will give eggs off flavor

Pumpkin (and other winter squashes)- seeds are known to have natural worming properties

Rice- cooked only- Minute Rice or similar types have little nutritional value.

Sunflower seeds- good source of methionine which is especially important for feather growth

You mention flax seed in the sunflower seeds, but suggest it be it's own item....flax oil spoils easily, omega -3 source but too much will give eggs a fishy flavor.

Also, I would mention a "dinner leftovers" item. Only feed to chickens if it's still edible by people---watch salt content.

THANKS AGAIN for putting the list together in the first place!
Sandra

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Smitty's Farm, I originally set up the chart so that in the section at the bottom, of what not to feed your chickens, I noted that raw potato peels are not acceptable. In the regular chart, I noted "cooked only".

Just so you don't think I was not making note of your suggestion.... Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Guitartists]

I love the treats chart... I think the only comment I have, possibly not really related, is that the toxic plants list is by scientific name, which is cool and all... but I wish there was a list alphabetically of common names

 

[thekla]

I just wanted to mention that if you have a farmers market near you be sure to check, here in Eugene, the farmers put a lot things like carrot tops and lettuce etc aside in big bins and at the end of the day you can stop by and get free treats, I got about a dozen "imperfect" but huge fresh strawberries yesterday and chopped them up for the gang... they loved them, and they love the carrot tops and other (mostly organic) stuff I bring home for them.

 

[chic-a-deee]

Hi Everyone!!!

Now that my babies are 6week old pullets....I have nearly a full sack of chickstarter to get rid of.

I thought of an idea that I sort of got from BYC forum. Some ppl mentioned when their feed is
down to the crumbs they mix it with water & their chickens loved it.
I thought to mix the feed with water, 2 eggs (in a large mixing bowl), some seed feed (a scoop full)
some chook vitamins (a handful) my vitamins are powdered, a bit of grit..about a cup full,
and a scoop of wheat.

I mixed it all up to a half dry half wet consistancy so that when u squeeze it in ur fist, it stays together.
I put them in the oven for 10mins on 200deg C. They come out hard-ish. I thought these healthy treats
would also keep them occupied in their coop, you could even tie them to the roof of the coop for them to
peck at, at various heights. I thought it would be good for them. Also in summer, you could give them
frozen cubed veges to cool them down.

Here's a pic of our chook cookies....

 

[DTchickens]

I may have missed this in earlier posts but how soon can you start giving them treats? Do you need to wait till they are a few months old or could you feed them some when they are like 4 weeks old? I think that this should be included as part of the chart as well because I would rather be safe then sorry. Thank you!

Gonna find a large variable in opinions on that; I say soft treats (smashed/grated boiled eggs and so on) can be fed when only days old. I have done it and seen it done many times in both a brooder and hen-raised setting.. Hen raised chicks are capable of eating more due to them commonly living on the ground, they have access to grit and other things chicks in brooders may not have. But I don't feed treats often.

By a couple of weeks/a month they should be able to eat just about any treat especially if supplied with grit whether people disagree with me or not. Raising games we have a lot of birds that raise on the yard with hens that I do not feed anything simply because they were unplanned matings/take very good care of themselves; probably healthier than most peoples brooded chicks.

Common sense dictates that when they're raised by a hen they will eat what the hen eats, whether it be small grain (crack corn, wheat, so on), crickets, grass, berries (which contains seeds), etc. The difference is hen-raised chicks have grit because their mother will teach them how to take care of themselves.. I've got a lot of chicks this year to prove this and have had a lot over the 9+ years I have been breeding fowl myself and about 18 years I've been around chickens not counting foreknowledge of my father/grandfather/great grandfather.

But I wouldn't feed chicks a lot of treats like bread and so on, its not going to kill them and I occasionally do it; but it is nowhere near as good for them as the food you have supplied for them which they need as they grow.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You should avoid nightshade leaves and plants. You definitely should not eat them and neither should your chickens. Tomatoes are fruit though, not leaves or plants. They are OK for you to eat and OK for your chickens to eat. Same with potatoes, peppers, and eggplant, other nightshade fruits, if you will. Not sure potatoes are considered fruits.

I think you fell victim to something pretty common, especially on the internet. Somebody somewhere read something about nightshade plants containing a toxin. When they repeated it they left out the plants and just said nightshades. So a myth is born that ripe tomatoes, ripe peppers (I think mine love ripe peppers even more than ripe tomatoes), and such are dangerous. They are not.

Another very common one is that potatoes are dangerous. They are not but potatoes that have been exposed to the sun and turned green are. Exposure to the sun like that concentrates a toxin in the potatoes. You should not eat green potatoes and neither should you chickens. But regular white potatoes are fine. Mine prefer them cooked but will usually eat a raw potato.

I’ll add uncooked dried beans to the do not feed list. Beans contain a substance that can be toxic, causing illness or even death. Cooking destroys that toxin. Red kidney beans are the worst but they all contain that toxin. Neither you no your chickens should eat raw dried beans.