Chickens Fav Treats!!!!

[greasemonkey88]

A local grocery store gives me their clippings and now they're giving me the "decorative fruit". They cut it all fancy for the display and after a couple days they exchange it when the watermelon and such starts to lose it's color. I hang it from a string with a wood screw in it. They hollow it out from the inside. It's pretty fun to watch. Especially if you hang it to where they have to jump to get it.

I took a little play by play of my little Michael Jordan this morning. 5 week old BO.

Switched to cabbage

That is cool. Looks like a soft landing spot too so not much worry about bumble foot.

 

[Lilyput]

I only feed raw diet to my Giant Schnauzers; small poop turns to "ash" which is the leftover bone meal. Never any odor in yard, no doggie breath, no gas, beautiful white teeth, healthy skin and hair. They look like athletes, not a bit of fat on them. I've been doing this about 3 years, wish I had known about it earlier. I mainly feed raw chicken, and eggs because its the cheapest, but buy any meat on sale. Cooking the bones makes them brittle. I was afraid to give raw meat to the chickens because I thought it might make them more cannibalistic. I'm a newby to chickens, and this site is wonderful.

 

[user213590]

Mom's mix,
Sweet feed,
Chicken Scratch,
Oyster shell finely ground,
Last nights kitchen veggie scraps,
This mornings eggs shells,
Old bread, left over biscuits, rolls, oatmeal or corn bread,
Eggs from the day before not used,
Mixed with a nice mix of chick feed. Flock raiser, and layena,
Dry catfood,
Koi pond / fish food
Put all in a big pot on the gas grill, stir here and there on low.
Serve up warm on a cold morning. Cold mornings they are slower about coming out of their hutches.
Ah,.., nope you think wrongly if thou thinkiest that I would eat before the cluckens. I open hutches into their pens into the fenced yards and water and feed then go in and tend to our breakfast and then go back out calling here kitty kitty kitty as I let them out of the chainlink fence their third barrier in keeping them safe for the night. It is a mush to behold all steaming and colorful. They love it, as they give up that egg easier.

 

[Flyinthecoop]

My gals love oats, grass and flies if they can catch them. They turn their beaks up at fresh worms I dig up. I am not sure why.

 

[SavageDestiny]

Here is the actual quote:

"Oxalic acid is a natural product found in spinach and some other plant foods including rhubarb. (Levels are so high in rhubarb leaves that we don't eat them - they're poisonous). It imparts a sharp taste to beet greens and chard that I don't like, especially in older leaves. Concentrations of oxalic acid are pretty low in most plants and plant-based foods, but there's enough in spinach, chard and beet greens to interfere with the absorption of the calcium these plants also contain. For example, although the calcium content of spinach is 115 mg per half cup cooked, because of the interference of oxalic acid, you would have to eat more than 16 cups of raw or more than eight cups of cooked spinach to get the amount of calcium available in one cup of yogurt."
Andrew Weil, MD

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400344/Avoid-Vegetables-with-Oxalic-Acid.html

Note that he states the interference with the absorption of calcium is of the calcium contained in the plant itself. He goes on to state that it typically will not interfere with the absorption of calcium consumed at the same time from other sources. Note also that he states you would have to eat "more than 16 cups of raw or more than eight cups of cooked spinach" in order to absorb the amount of calcium in one cup of yogurt.

So, it would appear, based on Dr. Weil's statement, that spinach would be o.k. as a treat so long as you were not expecting it to provide a source of vegetable calcium to your birds. I, however, will continue to err on the side of caution and not give it to my flock as a treat or otherwise. There are plenty of other treats that they enjoy as much or more without risking anything in their health.

That's what I read as well.

I give spinach to my girls. They're not going to be eating anywhere near enough to actually hurt them, and spinach does have a lot of good minerals/vitamins in it. I just make sure to rotate it in and out of their diet, just like I make sure to rotate cruciferous vegetables out of my dogs' diets to protect thyroid function.

 

[Melinda48]

I believe potatoes are a no no.

 

[Melinda48]

We do that with cauliflower. It's our little chicken piñata! The girls love it and it keeps them busy all day!

 

[chickendadma]

My chicks are 8 weeks old, and I've given them a great variety of foods, but haven't tried meats. (With the exception of once giving them a bit of leftover taco meat, which they wouldn't eat.). Is it essential that I give them meat, or is it just a treat? I give them feed daily, and also give them treats of fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, & mealworms.

I'm of the opinion that you definitely don't have to give your chickens meat at all. if you're giving them a quality feed, that should hopefully have everything they need in it (although I tend to think that letting them scrounge for some greens and bugs on their own is an important part of their diet and lifestyle, too).

In fact I avoid giving mine any meat because I'm so distrustful of the factory farming industry and i don't want to introduce any accumulated nasty stuff (antibiotics and other medicines, diseases, pesticides) into their system. I don't eat meat myself, either (I'm a vegetarian) so that works out just fine.

 

[LindaB220]

Mom's mix,
Sweet feed,
Chicken Scratch,
Oyster shell finely ground,
Last nights kitchen veggie scraps,
This mornings eggs shells,
Old bread, left over biscuits, rolls, oatmeal or corn bread,
Eggs from the day before not used,
Mixed with a nice mix of chick feed. Flock raiser, and layena,
Dry catfood,
Koi pond / fish food
Put all in a big pot on the gas grill, stir here and there on low.
Serve up warm on a cold morning. Cold mornings they are slower about coming out of their hutches.
Ah,.., nope you think wrongly if thou thinkiest that I would eat before the cluckens. I open hutches into their pens into the fenced yards and water and feed then go in and tend to our breakfast and then go back out calling here kitty kitty kitty as I let them out of the chainlink fence their third barrier in keeping them safe for the night. It is a mush to behold all steaming and colorful. They love it, as they give up that egg easier.

I love your mix. Tell me about the koi food. I was checking on it and wondered how much to put in a 5 gallon fermented feed. Got any ideas. How much do you put in your Mama's mix

 

[user213590]

Tractor Supply Company of course.
Also you can toss in catfish food. The smellier the better as far as my chickens go.