How often do you do treats?

[Cluck_Cluck]

How often do you feed your flock treats? Like table scraps, meal worms, ect?
The 90/10 rule makes me think that once a week would be good...?

 

[oxybrock]

I'm definitely overdoing it then. I give them a little every day.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I give my flock of 26 chickens (seven of whom are bantams) and eight Muscovy ducks two scoops of feed, and 1-2 small things of “table scraps” usually called grocery store freebies that are out of date.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Maybe twice a week. Sometimes they get lettuce scraps from work but I save meal worms for when I'm trying to get them back into the run which isn't often

 

[The Birb King]

Every day I give my flock a mix of mealworms, scrach, and oyster shell every day. Mine also get leftover table scraps sometimes and I feed them grass a lot too.

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

I give mine treats once or twice a week, usually a little bread, and homemade suet I make for the.

 

[Huntmaster]

How often do you feed your flock treats? Like table scraps, meal worms, ect?
The 90/10 rule makes me think that once a week would be good...?

It's not really how many times of week you give it to them it's the amount. As long as its only 10% of their diet it could be daily.

 

[Cluck_Cluck]

I'm definitely overdoing it then. I give them a little every day.

You're probably doing just fine. I'm waaaay new at this chicken thing, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[Sally PB]

Every afternoon, I do "chickie snack." That is their regular food, wetted into a mash.* I usually put some spinach leaves on it, and hand feed leaves to whomever will take them from my hand. Sometimes there are other additives, like blueberries or carrot bits or other garden/kitchen scraps.
*This is a great way to use up the fine, powdery bits in the bottom of their bowls that they won't eat.

On rare occasions, I give other treats. "Quickie snack" when I don't have time is BOSS and mealworms sprinkled in the run, about 1 tablespoon per bird. Another is the leftovers from when I make bone broth. Very rarely, I give them bits of bread. They love that, but it's just candy as far as nutrition goes.

During garden season, I give them buckets of weeds and any grubs I can dig up 3-4 times a week. That's as much entertainment as snack; they love to scratch through the piles of greens.

In July and August, they get "bug snack," which is as many Japanese Beetles as I can find.

 

[Flair1239]

How often do you feed your flock treats? Like table scraps, meal worms, ect?
The 90/10 rule makes me think that once a week would be good...?

I am just coming up on my first full year of owning chickens, so take this for what that is worth. Also, if you are planning to depend on your chickens for money, also ignore this.

I think the 90/10 rule is bullshit. At best it comes from data based upon battery hens in commercial environments where the primary motivation is maximizing egg production. When you are running 100+ hens slight variations in egg laying can add up.

I believe for the average backyard flock owner (I have 11 hens and a rooster) any reasonable feeding strategy will suffice. This summer I fed my flock green weeds that I pulled from my land everyday. I also started running all the compost piles through their run. I gave them a half cup of scratch everyday and kitchen scraps as they were available. My wife also took to ordering extra pancakes at our breakfast places, because she thought it was funny to watch the chickens eat them.

There were some days where I know for a fact, that they did not touch their commercial food. If I had to assign a percentage I would say that this summer easily 60% of their food was from sources other than commercial feed. Some weeks it was closer to 90% of their food from other than commercial feed.

Once they started laying, I was averaging 8 eggs per day from 11 hens.

This winter (I live in Minnesota so we have dark cold winters), I have been getting an average of 3 eggs a day. I don't heat and don't supply supplemental light. I give them (5) cobs of corn each morning, kitchen scraps as available, and 3/4 of a cup of scratch. I would say that over the winter about 70% of their food comes from commercial feed.

My conclusion is that a recreational flock owner can use almost any commonsense feeding strategy and have acceptable results. I would also informally argue, that the quality of life of my flock benefits from feeding them a diverse diet. Yesterday I gave them about half of container of Carl Buddig sliced ham, something about watching a hen running away screaming to hide in the coop with a full slice of ham so she doesnt have to share just makes me laugh.