Are there any human leftovers that you wouldn't feed your chickens?

[Lifestudent]

Our chickens also love to get into our dog's food if she doesn't eat it all before they get to it. This is both dry and canned food mixed. They'll even fight each other over pieces. We have a couple apple trees and have a lot of apples falling to the ground before they're ripe. My wife has been busting them up for the chickens. A couple of the hens have even gotten in the way of the hammer she's using in their excitement at getting to eat these apples.

 

[NYREDS]

I would like to know the reason for not giving them citrus. My wife gave our chickens some orange peels and we never noticed any ill effects of changes in the flavor of the eggs.

There is no reason not to. People who ship adult birds often put halved oranges in the box to provide nutrition & moisture during the trip.
The fact that someone posted someting on an internet site doesn't make it true. The internet doesn't have editors or fact checkers.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

We give our birds everything except garlic and onions. I've never tasted eggs from chickens that've eaten a lot of garlic, but I've heard horror stories. I've also smelled milk from cows that got into a patch of wild onion. Bright yellow, and it stunk!

I came home late one night last week and forgot to put a bag of meat away. <sniff, sadness>
Chickens got steak and ground pork the next morning when I found the bag of now room-temp meat. They went nuts.

 

[fishnet1971]

NO rhubarb leaves.

 

[Lifestudent]

There is no reason not to. People who ship adult birds often put halved oranges in the box to provide nutrition & moisture during the trip.
The fact that someone posted someting on an internet site doesn't make it true. The internet doesn't have editors or fact checkers.

Quite true. I was just questioning it because it didn't match our experience.

 

[Baymule]

When we go out to eat, I get a to-go styrofoam box and scrape all the plates into it. Chicken scraps.

My DH is not even embarrased anymore. Styrofoam.......you mean I should have just been throwing the whole box in there all this time??

 

[Hinotori]

I don't give mine anything rotten or to salty. I've gotten to the point that if it's still around after two days in the fridge after the meal, it goes to the chickens or dogs. Keeps my fridge clean and makes them happy and saves a bit of money on food.

 

[donrae]

When we go out to eat, I get a to-go styrofoam box and scrape all the plates into it. Chicken scraps.

My DH is not even embarrased anymore. Styrofoam.......you mean I should have just been throwing the whole box in there all this time??

What IS it with the styrofoam? It's like the crave it or something! It's sooo nasty, I can hardly touch the stuff and they gobble it like it's fine chocolate!

 

[boiseb123]

Cafeteria Style
I work in a large school. Every Friday, I ask our cafeteria staff to load a bag with any food they may throw out due to the end of the week purge. This is typically a huge bag of tots, fries, corn dogs, sandwiches, chips and veggies. They don't seem to like the carrots but goats take care of those. I freeze the large bag of garbage (otherwise thrown out) in my chest freezer. I then break off random blocks and watch then go to town! They love it! Haven't had any issues with the eggs and my 5 chickens lay 5 eggs and day throughout the entire year. I would encourage those of you that work in a cafeteria setting to give this a try. Any of the greens can go to the goats but they seem way more picky than the incredible chicken trash disposals. Now I just have to deal with the swarm when they see the tuck pull up with the cafeteria mystery meal for the week. No complaints here. May not be as "organic" as most would like. (my wife thought it was gross when I put a whole turkey carcass out for them. They picked it clean in under 1/2 hour) Yummy Eggs and Happy Chicken!
I've thought about doing the same with a pig but combining all the milk into a slop. Any ideas or drawbacks? Someone said it may lead to poor meat but I think I can fix that with hanging and proper prep.

 

[Yo Adrien]

I also feed my hens most of the leftovers in the fridge unless they are of questionable age or moldy.

I thought my chickens didn't like citrus either until I started to cut open harder to peck fruits and vegetables. That was when I realized they didn't know it was food. Often they leave the rinds though.

My chickens favorite food -- blueberries.