Feedback on Learning Center "Treats Chart"

[JesCelina]

I was wondering how much to give 3 week old chickens oatmeal? I made a batch of old fashioned oates mixed with a hard boild egg. I went to feed it to them but could not get a Small chunk ( its clumped together ) to feed them. I was afraid of them choking I know this may sound silly, but I am such a NOOBY!!

 

[Black Beauties]

thanks just double checking My daughter runs a cafe and has lots of compost items one being potato peels

I wish to feed my hens potato peels should I run thru the microwave first? why so many differing opinions on what scraps hens can eat/ or not eat ? is very confusingt

 

[wolfinator]

Great information. Can chickens have cranberries?

 

[lazy gardener]

When I make cranberry sauce, I give the soft ones to the birds. They enjoy them.

 

[Amiti]

Great info! Thx!

 

[spicer5]

Great article but why are grapes with seeds a no-no for the hens?

 

[BertandMary]

Great article but why are grapes with seeds a no-no for the hens? Our hens jave eaten seeded grapes for years. Might be just juveniles?

 

[Amiti]

Good question. I have wild grapes and new to chickens. They will surely want to eat them. What should i do?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Many fruit seeds contain a poison, cyanide. Apple seeds are the ones usually mentioned but many seeds have it. That’s why people try to scare you about them. But wild birds and other animals eat these seeds all the time without a problem. They depend on them. Chickens eat them too. How can that possibly be?

The simple answer is dosage. There is such a tiny amount of cyanide in a seed that they would have to eat a huge amount of pure seeds to cause any harm at all. They are just not going to eat that much. I’ve seen plum and peach pits in the gizzards of chickens that I’ve butchered. They eat them all the time without harm when they are in the orchard and the fruit is falling to the ground.

So what should you do? You should enjoy watching them eat this treat that they will enjoy quite a bit. It can be quite funny if they are elevated a bit. I’ve seen chickens position themselves under my grape vines and jump up to snatch a grape. They’ll do the same thing with berries and other things.

If you make a batch of jelly or jam where you have a huge pile of seeds and nothing but seeds you might not want to dump them where the chickens can eat a huge amount of seeds just as a precaution, but even this is highly unlikely to cause a problem. I certainly don’t worry if they eat a grape with a seed in it. The volume of fruit will reduce the number of seeds they eat.

 

[HennieMama7]

I heard you should avoid all nightshades, including tomatoes.