Topic of the Week - Feeding table scraps to your flock

[AngieGould]

Has anyone given their chickens zucchini? Wondering if it's safe for them to eat. Have to many zucchinis. Thanks

 

[Barbs Girls]

They LOVE zucchini!!!

 

[lovingmyhens]

Each weekend I’ll put all the food that’s been left over, all of it, old bread, muffins, casserole, banana, old grapes etc and put it in a pot filled to the top with water. Slowly bring it to a simmer getting all that stuff good and mixed up. After it cools I’ll put it in qt size zip bags and freeze. Every day I’ll pull out a bag and put the block of frozen goodies in a bowl in their coop. It’s gone in a couple hours.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What kind of meat is safe to give to chcikens?

What ever you have will be fine. Chicken meat should be cooked. I especially like fresh raw beef liver and cube it up into about 1/4 inch pieces. I like to take treats like this into the run or walk, sit down, and feed it a piece at a time to make sure that every chicken gets his fair share.

 

[seadrift]

When I mow the lawn, my girls go crazy and rush the fence. They get a large pile of grass clippings to keep them happy for days! Watermelon they pick clean to a paper thin rind. When I clear the bedding that has come thru the fence and piled up against it on the outside (I grow my white pineapples in it on the other side of the fence) it is always full of worms and they crowd the fence to get those favorite tidbits! Any leftover salad, rice, etc. Their outside coop is cleaned out every month or so and I lay down dolomite (lime) diatamaeceous earth and then about 4 inches or so of cedar shavings. This becomes a great mix of the former with added chicken poop and leftover grass to use as much around plants and bare areas. When it rains, they scratch it dry a fluffy in a few days time. In the nesting and laying part of the coop I use plenty DE and deep soft pine shavings and pick out poop clumps every day so it is always clean. Every time I add more shavings, I mix in more DE. Haven't had mites in several years. Had them badly when I went on vacation and the 'house sitter' didn't clean the coop the whole time I was gonel
Had to clean out everything, hose it, dry it and soak the whole interior with neem oil paying attention to all the cracks and crevices. Once dry, use DE liberally, especially in the corners and seams and then put in fresh pine shavings and mixing in plenty DE. Took a few weeks for the new generations to die out but has been mite free now for years.

 

[djcram]

Mine are super spoiled and come running whenever the back door opens. Favorites are watermelon rinds, grapes, corn (even the empty cobs we've eaten they will pick at with great gusto) and bananas. On really cold winter nights I make a warm porridge of oatmeal, corn, blueberries and anything else I'd think they'd like. They also love fruitsicles as a cool down in really hot weather. Also stale bread, tortilla chips, crackers and heels from bread. They usually leave behind any onions, carrots or lettuce. Oh also love cheese and yogurt!

our chickens also come running to the back and actually come into the mud room when I open the door for CRACKERS! This is also how I find them when I am ready for them to go in their coop (we dont leave ours free range all day) - I just shuffle the package and they come running!! I am so glad to have read about all the other treats they can have. Was worried what to feed them.

 

[chicken3fly]

I do indeed feed mine scraps. They get something about every other day or so. I only put enough for them to eat then and there I don't like old food siting in the pen. The girls love there fruits and veggies. Watermelon I think is there fave. I try and not give them too much pasta or meat craps. I will feed them left over scrambled eggs and even egg shells ever now and then. Make sure you crush them up I learned that the hard way with my first flock. One started eating the eggs in the coop, the nest boxes where always a goopy mess. The one thing I will not feed them is chicken! I now they will eat it not even thinking about it. Its just too creepy for me

i agree

 

[Dhkoenig]

I have a question on this topic maybe you all can help me with. My girls come running out every morning when I go down to clean their coop and it is mainly to see what treats I brought them. Usually it is micro-greens, cherries, fennel, tomatoes, they love these puffed rice rolls I get at the store, berries...but my girls always have messy bottoms. I know they aren't sick - I think it is because I don't stick to just layer pellets. In fact, my girls really HATE their layer pellets and so I mix in scratch to see if they can be fooled into having some but they pick out the scratch and leave the pellets. I hear everyone talk about giving their chickens treats, but when I posted about mine having poopy butts, everyone said I should ONLY give them layer pellets and not a thing else. 1) I don't think they will like me anymore LOL - they use me for my treats!!! 2) How depressing!? As all of you discuss your yummy treats above, how do you prevent it from giving them the poops?? Help!

 

[Susan Dye]

I have a question on this topic maybe you all can help me with. My girls come running out every morning when I go down to clean their coop and it is mainly to see what treats I brought them. Usually it is micro-greens, cherries, fennel, tomatoes, they love these puffed rice rolls I get at the store, berries...but my girls always have messy bottoms. I know they aren't sick - I think it is because I don't stick to just layer pellets. In fact, my girls really HATE their layer pellets and so I mix in scratch to see if they can be fooled into having some but they pick out the scratch and leave the pellets. I hear everyone talk about giving their chickens treats, but when I posted about mine having poopy butts, everyone said I should ONLY give them layer pellets and not a thing else. 1) I don't think they will like me anymore LOL - they use me for my treats!!! 2) How depressing!? As all of you discuss your yummy treats above, how do you prevent it from giving them the poops?? Help!

I also give my girls "treats" every day, mostly scraps. I do try to watch the sodium content and I seldom give them anything that's highly processed. So, you might check the salt in what they are getting and maybe trade out the processed rice rolls with unsalted popcorn. Also, have you tried giving them layer crumbles instead of pellets? Mine will eat the pellets and there is definitely less waste with pellets, but they eat a lot more of the crumbles. Some of the crumbles do wind up on the ground, but they eat most of what falls to the ground too. I went back over many of the treads about poppy butt on this forum and there was a lot of information on how to deal with it, but not much on cause and effect. Some suggestions concerning possible worm/lice/mite infestation. None that I found that had a definitive answer and as with most topics discussed here and elsewhere, there are plenty of conflicting viewpoints. Might just become a trial and error thing. Eliminate certain foods, add others (like the crumbles) see how they respond. My personal experience involved one buff orphington who started getting poopy butt from the time she was just weeks old and eating nothing but chick starter food. She continued getting poopy butt up until about 3 yrs old. I bathed her, trimmed her fluffy butt, nothing lasted for long. Then she suddenly stop getting it. Maybe b/c her feathering, once she matured, became less of a problem. I have no idea, just know that she no longer gets it. She is going 6 yrs old now. Hopefully someone with more experience than I will be able to give you better advice. Best of luck and keep us informed on how things work out.

 

[Fallenone05]

I have a question on this topic maybe you all can help me with. My girls come running out every morning when I go down to clean their coop and it is mainly to see what treats I brought them. Usually it is micro-greens, cherries, fennel, tomatoes, they love these puffed rice rolls I get at the store, berries...but my girls always have messy bottoms. I know they aren't sick - I think it is because I don't stick to just layer pellets. In fact, my girls really HATE their layer pellets and so I mix in scratch to see if they can be fooled into having some but they pick out the scratch and leave the pellets. I hear everyone talk about giving their chickens treats, but when I posted about mine having poopy butts, everyone said I should ONLY give them layer pellets and not a thing else. 1) I don't think they will like me anymore LOL - they use me for my treats!!! 2) How depressing!? As all of you discuss your yummy treats above, how do you prevent it from giving them the poops?? Help!

It sounds like they're getting diarrhea from foods that have a high liquid or sugar content.

Layer pellets should really be the bulk of their diet. They might even be missing something important because they're getting junk food every day instead of food that's been formulated for chickens, specifically layer chickens.

Mine do well on Healthy Hen pellets and always come running to me for treats too, but they get limited treats, food access 24/7 and get to free range the yard for a few hours as supplements to their diet.

You might have to 'starve' them for a couple days and give them access to only layer pellets. They might not eat them because they know you'll give in.

Treats aren't a bad thing until you over do them, just like with people too. Chocolate isn't bad for you unless you just eat it in excess or don't give yourself something nutritional as well.