Bread, pasta, and twinkies may not kill a chicken, but I wouldn't say it makes them thrive either. Those foods are probably more detrimental long term...just like they are with humans. Birds never naturally evolved to consume dairy so I find it unnecessary to feed it to them. With that said, my birds on occasion have gotten 100% grass fed plain yogurt before, but it's a once in a blue moon treat. Spinach is high in oxalates which can have an effect on calcium absorption. I really don't worry about it too much. If I have a few mixed in with my scrap salad greens the birds get them.
One thing I've done over the past few days is give them some raw coconut that I cracked open right out of the shell (I drank the coconut water
). It's probably coincidence, but their laying really picked up over the past 5 days with it. Out of my 11 laying hens I saw a 5 day period of 9, 11, 11, 10, and 10 eggs and only 2 of them are leghorns. I was averaging about 7-8/day before that. Of course we're coming out of winter and gaining daylight rapidly, but the weather has been even more cold and gloomy than usual for New England standards.
One thing I've done over the past few days is give them some raw coconut that I cracked open right out of the shell (I drank the coconut water
). It's probably coincidence, but their laying really picked up over the past 5 days with it. Out of my 11 laying hens I saw a 5 day period of 9, 11, 11, 10, and 10 eggs and only 2 of them are leghorns. I was averaging about 7-8/day before that. Of course we're coming out of winter and gaining daylight rapidly, but the weather has been even more cold and gloomy than usual for New England standards.
