Treats

[Penelope59]

I came across a lady called The Chicky Chick. Very knowledgeable and author of books on raising chickens. Some of you may be familiar with her, she has a YouTube channel. She is very big on absolutely no treats for chickens- feed only!! She said treats causes more harm than good.
Well, my girls love their treats. I don’t ever give them junk. Nutritious treats only. Berries, mealworms apples, oats and greens. I’m on the fence with what she shared.
Do you believe chickens should not have healthy treats?

 

[Brooks_]

I came across a lady called The Chicky Chick. Very knowledgeable and author of books on raising chickens. Some of you may be familiar with her, she has a YouTube channel. She is very big on absolutely no treats for chickens- feed only!! She said treats causes more harm than good.
Well, my girls love their treats. I don’t ever give them junk. Nutritious treats only. Berries, mealworms apples, oats and greens. I’m on the fence with what she shared.
Do you believe chickens should not have healthy treats?

I am fine with most anything in moderation. A general rule of not more than 10% of daily intake being treats.

 

[TooCheep]

^This. Don't treat them like factory farm poultry. Treat them better.

 

[TwoCrows]

Definitely limit the treats, however goodies are a wonderful bonding agent for you and your birds. It also helps to break up their routine or even boredom with some small surprise. I have always doled out some treats to my birds and many of them lived to 10+ years old, so I don't believe a small amount of treats does any harm. Variety is healthy physically and mentally!

 

[i_only_listen_to_dgd]

My hens love watermelon, rice, cat food, instant grits. Our last flock of all Ameraucanas ate table scraps probably more often than they should have but most of them still lived to be 7 - 10 years old. I'm feeding this flock less scraps after learning that it may not be so good for them but in my experience it definitely hasn't done a lot - if any - harm.

 

[ivy_huan]

I came across a lady called The Chicky Chick. Very knowledgeable and author of books on raising chickens. Some of you may be familiar with her, she has a YouTube channel. She is very big on absolutely no treats for chickens- feed only!! She said treats causes more harm than good.
Well, my girls love their treats. I don’t ever give them junk. Nutritious treats only. Berries, mealworms apples, oats and greens. I’m on the fence with what she shared.
Do you believe chickens should not have healthy treats?

im new to keep chicken but feeds didnt exist decades ago when old timers used to keep chickens.
i used to give mine food scraps and everything, just certain things i kept out from them

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Ummm K. She used to be on here years ago. So she capitalized on knowledge, good for her but that doesn't mean she's the end all, be all. Many people on here are just as experienced and wise. Expertise when it come's to chicken's can sometimes be alot more about personal experience and opinion than say real credentials like a Phd. in Avian Ecology..... So you do you for sure, and take her with a grain of salt... My opinion is treats in moderation.

 

[Ali88]

I came across a lady called The Chicky Chick. Very knowledgeable and author of books on raising chickens. Some of you may be familiar with her, she has a YouTube channel. She is very big on absolutely no treats for chickens- feed only!! She said treats causes more harm than good.
Well, my girls love their treats. I don’t ever give them junk. Nutritious treats only. Berries, mealworms apples, oats and greens. I’m on the fence with what she shared.
Do you believe chickens should not have healthy treats?

Treats are good for chicken, especially when these treats are healthy and your chicken loves them. Just make sure, you give them enough treats for a day, because I'm a firm believer that too much is not good anymore.

 

[drdoct]

My chickens eat whatever they want.

In the morning I throw out a few cups full of scratch and they'll eat that.
All day they free range and eat whatever they find.
When I get home from work, I usually empty my compost bucket on the compost pile and let them get first dibs. I try to do that later in the day because they've already been eating all day so it's not like they gorge on it.

Sometimes I'll cut up a hotdog or some lunch meat that that sits too long in the fridge (I only keep a week) as a treat for them. At first it was more often but now we're so busy that I honestly feel bad about not having chicken time more.

Also have layer pellets in the feeder in the coop so they can eat pellets if they need them.

My chickens are happy and produce great tasting eggs. I'm not trying to set a longest living chicken record. But I'd put their health up against an always caged pellet eater any day of the week.