Anything off limits?

[newchknmama]

Quote:
I LOVE this idea.. do you freeze them? I dont have that many chickens but heck if I could make that and freeze it.. it would be awesome.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Chicken treats: Feed in moderation, and never give them old or moldy food.
Apples: You can give them applesauce or fresh juicey apples. Yes, the seeds do contain cyanide, but the amounts are small, so don't worry. Just don't give them too many.
Bananas: They love Bananas.
Berries: All types of raw fresh berries
Grapes: Fresh
Melons: Cantaloupe, Honeydew, And watermelon. My chickens peck it down to the skin of the fruit.
Pomegranates: My chickens love picking out each individual piece.
Pumpkins: Raw or cooked, both seeds and flesh
Tomatoes: Raw or cooked.
Beans: Cooked at least 15 minutes, never dry, all kinds.
Beets: Cooked or raw.
Broccoli: Raw or cooked
Brussels Sprouts: Raw or cooked.
Cauliflower: Raw or cooked.
Cabbage: Raw or cooked.
Carrots: Raw or cooked, the whole thing.
Corn: Raw, cooked, or canned, this is obvious, the stuff chicken food is made from.
Eggplant: Raw or cooked.
Lettuce: All the leafy greens are good for the chickens.
Peas: Raw or cooked.
Bell peppers: Raw or cooked.
Sprouts: Make sure they are fresh.
Summer Squash: All Squash, if you have a garden you will have plenty of this.
Meats:
Chicken: Feeding chicken, chicken is ok. If you can't do this, feed them turkey.
Fish: Be careful, this might change the flavor of your eggs.
Meat: In very small amounts (hamburger, steak, roast, etc).
Cereal: All kinds, watch the sugar.
Cheese: All kinds, small amounts
Cottage cheese: They love this.
Flowers: You probably already know this.
Grits: Cooked
Live crickets: They will jump for crickets.
Leftovers: Human leftovers that are fresh, and low in fat and salt.
Meal worms: This may be their most favorite, Chicken food for the soul
Oatmeal: Raw or cooked.
Pasta: Cooked, no hard stuff.
Popcorn: If its corn, they like it.
Sunflower seeds: I don't know what to say but try it.
Yogurt: Plain or flavored, its good for their digestive system.
Follow these guidelines feeding chickens, and you will have happy and healthy birds. Too much of this stuff can have a negative impact on a birds health.
Stay away from potato peels, (chickens can't digest easily).
Spoiled and rotten food will make a chicken sick.
Some fish, onions, and garlic can give your laying hens eggs an unpleasant flavor.
If you suspect your chickens are not eating enough, try adding a little variety to their diet. Start by feeding chickens at different times during the day. Try these:
Yogurt
Milk.
Cottage cheese.
Tomatoes.
Salad greens.
Stir a small amount of water into their mash.
If you are not successful in stimulating your chickens appetites, your chickens may be in poor health.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I have 16 full grown chickens so don't need to freeze ours cuz we go through them. I bake them on really low for a couple hours so they are really hard and take awhile to peck at. I am sure freezing them would work tho... the staler the better. lol

 

[Wildflower_VA]

Quote:
As many chickens in the world that free range in the woods, they would all die if acorns were poison to them. There is a huge oak tree (14 feet in diameter) with branches over my coop and run. Zillions of acorns in their run. They are young yet, so mostly they pick them up and throw them back down, but I bet they will chow down when the fresh ones come down in the fall.

 

[billfields]

Quote:
Gosh I hope not, My coop's under an oak tree!

Seriously, I don't think there is a problem, all sorts of animals eat acorns including, as you pointed our, all sorts of wild birds. And I remember our chickens as a kid eating both acorns and beechnuts. I did read somewhere that too many acorns can effect the color of the yoke.

As others have pointed out here chickens can/will eat almost anything. Shoot, they can't taste the hot so you could feed 'em habaneros!

I am curious about why no citrus...see that a lot but nobody's been able to tell me what the issue is. I can't see a chicken not eating an orange if you give it to 'em or that it would hurt 'em.

 

[Ohhhdear]

It's not that citrus is or isn't toxic to chickens. It's just that they plain won't eat it.

A perhaps common thread throughout the relatively small list of chicken's food dislikes is strong scent. Mine had free range over my entire backyard last summer including my flower beds. The list of what they DIDN"T eat is rather small, and all of those flowers had strong odors (chrysanthemums & geraniums mostly). The clematis, hostas, day lilies and roses were nibbled to the roots. This year they're fenced out of that area completely. I love my birds AND my flowers.

As for chickens eating screws, yes, they do. It's because they're shiny and look like bugs. Mine eat red plastic, so I have to scour the area to get rid of the paintball barrier red plastic tape my kids set up around the tree trunks a few years ago. I've watched my girls examine a new food or something they think is food. They look at it, tilt their heads and seemingly sniff it, cautiously approach it and then peck... then if it passes that test it's in their beaks. I think once it's in their beaks they automatically swallow.

Mine also adore old spent coffee grounds, ripped apart tea bags, leftover ramen noodles, leftover cooked asparagus, trimmings from mushrooms (and all the wild morels in their woods!), and every chicken bone that comes from my fryer.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I have seen my chickens pick some little bit of plastic up...drop it, pick it up, drop it and finally leave it. I thought maybe they were tasting it?

 

[Donna in Montana]

Once I put a holiday chicken carcass out in their pen... the next day the only sign of it was a lone, small bone the wind was blowing around in the run.

Not much they don't eat. They're murder on mice. The first time I saw a chicken kill a mouse my only chicken at the time, a roo, and I were walking in the back "yard". A mouse appeared close to my foot. "Blackie" saw it and whapped it it in the head. He then turned his head to the side and gave it a good, close look. He must have seen it twitch because he gave it another knock in the head and walked off. I was stunned!

Didn't know they would eat mice until some time later when we bought our first chicks from a ranch supply store. The chick that ended up with the mouse unlucky enough to come by the garage spent the evening running around, holding the little critter by it's tail, being chased by all the other chicks. I made hubby make him drop it before we shooed them into their pen for the night. First thing the next morning the first chick out grabbed the mouse and everyone was off to the races again!

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

I feed my chickens oranges, I cut them in half and they eat everything but the skin.

I also don't feed mine meat or fish. Partly because it creeps me out a little, but also because I've heard it can increase the chance of salmonella in the eggs. So can feeding them processed food. Anyone else heard that too?