Chickens Fav Treats!!!!

[minnehaha]

Hey can somebody out there advise? I never heard that tomatoes are bad for chickens either; only ONIONS are poison. I don't see tomatoes as poison on any of the lists.

I just looked it up and the tomato plant is in the night shade family and only the stems and leaves are toxic, not the fruit. Whew, good to know!!!

 

[HerbGir1972]

My chicklets have been getting corn stalks, tomatoes, sunflower reminants & dried seed heads.

They strip most green things in an afternoon, takes a say or so for the big sunflower heads.
My daughter gave them just an awful snack this afternoon, (Doritos) just abot two per chick she
said she didn't want them getting fat. It was funny watching them steal and eat them from one another...LOL

Over the weekend they are due for a big scoop of vermipost, we've gots loads of red worms.

 

[DairyChickenGal]

My chickens LOVE yogurt!

This is Lacey and Tilly enjoying some vanilla yogurt.

Miss Carrie looking for more!

Mavis and Carrie eating!

 

[Lollie508]

Whew I was getting worried at first that tomatos were poisonous because they just love them. Another snack they like is red apples.

 

[evemfoster]

Mealworms are their very favorite of all treats...Mine come running for them also...They are just so expensive...I wonder how nutrition they actually get from them...??? They also love almost all kind of table scraps, especially spaghetti.....I SOMETIMES COOK THEM A BOX OF ANY TYPE OF SPAGHETTI AND PUT A LITTLE SESAME SEED OIL ON IT...THEY LOVE IT...!Butter is good too. fruits and tomatoes also...

Nutritional information For Live mealworms:

Moisture 62.44%
Protein 20.27%
Fiber 1.73%
Ash 1.57%
Ca, ppm 133
P, ppm 3345
CA/P ratio 0.040%

Nutritional information for Dried mealworms:

Fat 27.2%
Protein 49.6%
Carbohydrates 6.9 grams
Calories: 471 calories
Fibre: 3.1%
Calcium: 420 ppm

 

[lindamiller]

Thanks for the information...Where do you get live mealworms?

 

[evemfoster]

Thanks for the information...Where do you get live mealworms?

I grow them myself. I am trying to increase what i have up to chicken treat numbers at the moment. So don't have a lot to feed out but i am getting there.

 

[lindamiller]

Where did you get the live ones to get started?

 

[evemfoster]

Where did you get the live ones to get started?

I went to PetSmart but the worms are expensive there. You only get about 50 and its five bucks.

If you order online you can get 1000 for $15.00 and 5000 for $30.00. A thousand is enough to feed quit a bit to the birds while saving a hundred or two to turn into beetles. But it will take 4 month or so for the eggs they lay to get large enough to feed out. When you get a colony going there will be worms in all stages in the farm enough so that you can pick out a treat a couple times a week.

The BYC mealworm thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/492636/mealworm-farming/7320#post_13893931

 

[HerbGir1972]

Hmmm $15 to start a colony, or buy the small bags of dried for $4.99 or the big bags for $8.99
I'm thinking this would be worth the time....