Advice: trying to get my girls to eat veggies&fruits

[beginnergirl]

Several years back I collected a yogurt cup full of corn ear worms when picking some of my corn for canning. I had a group of 10-week-old chicks roaming around so I dumped those corn ear worms on a bare patch of dirt near them. They looked at that worm pile very carefully. Slowly and gradually a couple of the really brave ones started to creep up on that worm pile. A worm wriggled!!! Run away!!! Run away!!!

They didn’t run far and slowly they started to sneak up in those worms again. A worm wriggled!!! Run away!!! Run away!!!

This repeated several times before a young cockerel got close enough to eat a worm. That’s all it took. That entire pile was gone in just a few seconds.

Very funny! My chicks were not sure about worms at first either and dropped them and backed up repeatedly. I brought bugs into the house for them when they were chicks and the bugs got away, escaping into their bedding. Ugh.

It just takes some time. My pullets now love zucchini. Didn't touch it at first. Then put out yellow squash and they again wouldn't touch it for over a day. Picked at it a bit. This week they demolished a yellow squash. They never eat the skin though. To the OP: don't give up!

 

[LaFemme Chikita]

Happy to say my girls are eating veggies(still picky on which ones) and fruits now.
They have grown to love peas. They'll eat green beans if they are open and squash. They also eat apples and pears I have to cut them small and i warm them up to make soft and they eat them. I usually make them a warm watery mix of fruit,veggie,wheat germ(sometimes oats)feed and sometimes scratch.They seem to like it. Still can't get them to eats spinach or lettuce but ill settle for what they like for now . I'll keep trying.

 

[redsix]

Have you tried cooking the pumpkin and apples? Mine don't care much for lettuce or tomatoes. Mine will eat raw cucumber and zucchini. Have you tried other things like plain yogurt and buttermilk? They are also big on watermelon and cantaloupe.

 

[chickmomma03]

mine will eat spinach if I cut it up. Mine don't care for regular lettuce even if it's cut up so I haven't been offering it. They eat a lot of other fruits and veggies though (uncooked mainly) so I'm good with that. They eat cabbage but ONLY if it's cut really small. Today mine ate mango, cherry tomatoes, mixed veggies, and corn (the veggies and corn were leftovers that we won't eat before they go bad since I have way too many leftovers in the fridge) and then I gave them a small portion of beans and leftover ham (shredded).

 

[LaFemme Chikita]

I tried pumpkin but they had no interest in which I found weird since just about everything I've read they are suppose to love it. I also read that milk wasn't good for them,the person who wrote the article said they got real sick from it. Is buttermilk different from whole or low fat milk?

 

[LaFemme Chikita]

Beans and ham...hmm never thought about that. I actually didn't think about meat at all? Can they eat any kind?

 

[Den in Penn]

Like us, chickens are omnivores, so any meat is on the menu. They even eat meats that most of us don't touch, liked insects.

 

[redsix]

I tried pumpkin but they had no interest in which I found weird since just about everything I've read they are suppose to love it. I also read that milk wasn't good for them,the person who wrote the article said they got real sick from it. Is buttermilk different from whole or low fat milk?

I've never fed chickens sweet milk. I have given them buttermilk, raw clabbered milk, and plain yogurt with no problems.