Chickens Fav Treats!!!!

[luvcereza]

They love pumpkin! Left over pumpkins from Halloween are great.

 

[sayga]

Last night I fed my chicks and chickens some cat food our fancy kitties turned their noses up at (we have 2 purebred Bengals, and they are super fussy eaters). The chickens thought that was the best thing they'd ever eaten. I picked up some of the shyer chicks and held them while they ate to get them relaxed about getting held.

They love Chinese food leftovers, but I give it to them in strict moderation because of the salt content. And white bread. They go nuts for white bread.

I love feeding them new treats. They often ignore it till the bravest chicken pecks it, they all look at the food and the chicken, and if the brave one goes back for more, they all have to have a taste.

This morning I had an old peach to give them. I held it in my hand and made them peck their bites right from my hand. It was good enough even the shy ones had some. Still not as yummy as the cat food, though.

 

[sayga]

They love pumpkin! Left over pumpkins from Halloween are great.

Every year we have a Halloween party with a pumpkin carving contest (mainly a ploy to get all our friends' pumpkin seeds!). This year, I froze pumpkin guts in plastic bags so I could give to the chickens in moderation. I just found the last one and they had it last week. I just throw the frozen block out there and they spend the day pecking it.

 

[ZetaPet]

Broccoli stems - my chicks hollow out the inside, leaving the skin of the stem, but they won't touch the actual broccoli (head/flower/leaves).
Also, unguarded rhubarb pie or pizza. They're sneaky little birds.

I'll have to try that, I was so surprised that they didn't even touch the Broccoli.
Mine will eat anything, They have to be quick to beat my black runner ducks for the veggies and bugs, but the meat and everything else is all theirs. Hot dogs are a BIG treat at my house.

 

[ZetaPet]

Every year we have a Halloween party with a pumpkin carving contest (mainly a ploy to get all our friends' pumpkin seeds!). This year, I froze pumpkin guts in plastic bags so I could give to the chickens in moderation. I just found the last one and they had it last week. I just throw the frozen block out there and they spend the day pecking it.

WOW this is also a great Idea!!!!

 

[OKprairiegirll]

Well, my girls have more than 2 acres to find their own treats and they do that quite well. But, when I need them to go in for whatever reason - I just say, "Come on girls, let's go to your house" and they follow me right in cause they know a treat is coming. Even the young ones are getting the idea now. So I have to have something special. I've been using meal worms and oatmeal mostly. Yesterday I bought some corn chop. Ooo, they love that as well. I have some corn on the cob I didn't get cooked so will give them that tonight and see how they feel about it. I am so glad you ladies are here. I never had a live chicken in my life until last summer (and it's a rather long life) - I am learning much from you. I had to kill a rooster last year because he was so mean. Think I have two blue orpington roos coming up - praying they are milder mannered.

 

[chickenMom15]

A poor frog hopped into our chicken pen & the girls were going CRAZY fighting over it & pulling it out of each other's beaks.

 

[autumnhearth]

Our girls are just 8 weeks old but their favorite treats so far are meal worms, flax seeds, peas and dandelion greens. They also went wild the two times I gave them live crickets. Today my son and I made ice cubes with mint, peas and dandelion greens for them.


Baby Buff says "Its for stands, yes?"

 

[Dizzydog]

Mine love anything that I find while I am weeding. I have a very interested audience watching for the best weeds and bugs.

 

[bruceha2000]

I am a widow and don't cook much. Not a lot of foodstuffs for chicken treats. Have been giving meal worms and oatmeal. They enjoy both. I got a package of meal worm mix - it contained cracked corn. It just occurred to me that they might like just the cracked corn - and a big bag of that would certainly be cheaper. What are your thoughts on cracked corn for a treat?

Corn, in contrast to what we have been taught, isn't great chicken food nutritionally speaking. Thus, it should be a limited part of their diet.

True story: I tossed two pieces of fresh corn on the cob (about 3" pieces) to the girls 2 days ago...nothing...nada...zip. They looked at them and never even took a peck at them!! I thought 'how silly you girls are' and left them there. Yesterday afternoon, all of a sudden, one of the 4 girls took a peck...it was ON!! My girls are just soo silly when it comes to a new 'treat'. Had to laugh!!

Yep, it takes a brave one to try the new thing and if it likes it, they ALL dive right in.

My dogs eat a raw diet(mainly chicken leg bones) and the chickens can't get to it fast enough.

Raw chicken bones are an invitation to intestinal perforations.

• wheat bread
• fresh corn on the cob
• oats
• crickets
• mealworms
• Strawberries
• BLUEBERRIES! They go nuts over their blueberries!

I don't think I would give commercial processed bread to my chickens.



My chickens LOVE Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS), I'm surprised no one else mentioned it. And they love their scratch grains at roost time. Scratch grains (which include cracked corn, a favorite part for mine) should be no more than 10% of their diet!!! Use either of these to train your chickens to come when called. Makes it a lot easier to get them in the coop when it is not their idea

On COLD winter mornings, I have given them cooked oatmeal with BOSS, raisins and if there is any meat fat, I mix that in as well. They love it.
And you can toss the bones from dinner to them, they will pick those clean. Melon rind and "guts", most other fruits; they get lots of apple cores.
If you want to find out what they really like, give them just about anything you would put in the compost bin.