We give our chickens all our fruit and veg kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy). I have a large garden and I'm intentionally making the floor of the chicken coop our compost pile. It greatly reduces the smell as while they are scratching at food scraps they are overturning dirt and covering up their droppings. In the spring I'll have about a two foot pack of composted kitchen scraps and chicken manure to go into the garden.
We have five hens and they get from 2 to 4 quarts of scraps a day, depending on what I've been cooking. I see these scraps, plus what they get when they free-range all day long, as their main food source. I have store-bought feed always available to them but I see that as a supplement. I've only fed one and half bags of feed and they're 20 weeks old now.
The only things I don't give them are moldy food (I read this and guess it woudn't be good for their respiratory system? or maybe could grow mold in the coop?) or meat or dairy (don't want to attract rats). They've been raised like this from the beginning and they're very healthy.
We don't have problems with them begging because we only put their food on the floor of their coop so they go there when they see me coming with the scraps bucket. It also helps to have them come for treats when you call because sometimes I need to pen them up earlier at night than they would normally come in on their own.
I never worry about them getting enough vitamins/minerals because they get such a varied diet of fruit and vegetables plus free-range bugs. They eat just like we eat and we don't take any vitamin supplements!
We have five hens and they get from 2 to 4 quarts of scraps a day, depending on what I've been cooking. I see these scraps, plus what they get when they free-range all day long, as their main food source. I have store-bought feed always available to them but I see that as a supplement. I've only fed one and half bags of feed and they're 20 weeks old now.
The only things I don't give them are moldy food (I read this and guess it woudn't be good for their respiratory system? or maybe could grow mold in the coop?) or meat or dairy (don't want to attract rats). They've been raised like this from the beginning and they're very healthy.
We don't have problems with them begging because we only put their food on the floor of their coop so they go there when they see me coming with the scraps bucket. It also helps to have them come for treats when you call because sometimes I need to pen them up earlier at night than they would normally come in on their own.
I never worry about them getting enough vitamins/minerals because they get such a varied diet of fruit and vegetables plus free-range bugs. They eat just like we eat and we don't take any vitamin supplements!
