Anything off limits?

[newchknmama]

Ive had a menagarie of pets over my lifetime and it seems there is always an "off-limits" food. Is there anything that is off limits to the chicks? I usually have leftover greens, kale, collards, parsely, carrots, from the lizard, the kids always have scrap fruits, apple cores, strawberries, grapes (which I know are ok) and stuff from us like broccoli or something.. is there ANYTHING tht is absolutely off limits? that would harm or poison them? TIA

 

[Alabama ee]

I have heard not to feed raw potato or any avocado. I have given ours just about any type of left overs except chicken.

 

[hannakat]

I'm pretty sure chicken is okay. Ham/bacon, due to the salt, should be very limited. I know you can feed them any kind of bread, pasta, and cheese, but since those are all processed foods, I can't make myself offer it to them. The chicken feed is as processed as I want to get for my free range chickadees.

A hunter friend gives his chickens parts of the meat he butchers, such as the ribs of venison, and he says they clean it down to the bone. I'll be interested in following this to find out if there are any 'off limits' food items!

 

[Judy]

They will gladly eat chicken. Really, they can eat most anything you do. Besides salt, they shouldn't be given a lot of sugar -- I don't give mine any at all, other than what occurs naturally in something like fruit. It may be that chocolate is poisonous to them (I forget.) Dried peas and beans need to be cooked for them, just as they do for you.

Here is the BYC treats chart:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

 

[Ohhhdear]

Avocado, raw GREEN potato peels, and chocolate. By "green" potato peels, I mean sun-scalded green. Raw peels are fine. Most chocolate we eat has very little real cacao and theobromine in it. So a small amount of chocolate cake, frosting, etc., isn't gonna kill your chickens. A half bar of 80% dark...? BAD! And although my girls absolutely loved avocado, apparently it's got something in it that can kill poultry. Other people report no problems with avocados at all.

I've never had any trouble with dried beans, dried peas, or uncooked rice. It goes through their systems like BOSS.

Frankly, I trust my chickens to know what is not good for them; for example, they avoid certain weeds naturally.

 

[Ariel301]

My birds eat avocados (in small amounts, at the price they are there's no way I'm letting them get much!) and potato peels frequently, no problem. I haven't found anything that comes out of my kitchen that has given them a problem. Chocolate has to be pretty concentrated to hurt them, and who would give one of those yummy expensive good 80% chocolate bars to their chickens?!

The one thing I did find that is ok but a little alarming if you are not expecting it--if you feed purple cabbage to baby chicks, they will have blue poop.

 

[Autumn1234]

Two questions: at what age can I start feeding them "treats"?
And what kind of chickens are those at the end of the Treat Chart eating the oatmeal, etc. They are adorable!

 

[Snegurochka]

I think anytime is okay to start giving them treats, as long as they are eating enough of their regular feed. The yellow hens at the end of the chart are Buff Orpingtons.

 

[bokboklady]

hi all, i made the mistake of giving my birds a treat of frozen sweetcorn,( cooked in microwave ) because they love it, but one of the girls got an impacted crop and was quite distressed for about 3 days until she cleared it, ( i massaged her crop a couple of times a day, and got some oil down her) luckily she is now back to normal but she is still the greediest bird, so sweetcorn is now off my list, it might not have been that, but i wont take the chance of giving it again.

,

 

[newchknmama]

these are all wonderful suggestions! Thanks for linking to the treat page. I am just glad that instead of going to waste someone around here will eat the "scraps"