Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Minchi]

Mine are still picky about what they eat so I am still discovering what they like. They like meal worms of any kind. Most foods they are kind of okay about but some the hide under the bedding and make me think they like...until I discover there stash. Maybe they are just a much more spoiled version of me, I use to hid food I didn't like too and I am not a touch person.

 

[therapydoglady]

My granddaughter Samantha stood watching me wash eggs and dry them before I put them in cartons to sell. She was four then and asked me "Those eggies ain't dirty, Mimaw! Why you washin' 'em?" and I simply told her "Because I know where they come from!" She never said another word about it and didn't ask any more questions. Well, tonight, she just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and witnessed a hen lay an egg. Her mouth flew open and her eyes got wide as she looked at me and said, "NOW I know why you wash those eggs!"

Thought you might enjoy a giggle.

 

[stonykill]

My granddaughter Samantha stood watching me wash eggs and dry them before I put them in cartons to sell. She was four then and asked me "Those eggies ain't dirty, Mimaw! Why you washin' 'em?" and I simply told her "Because I know where they come from!" She never said another word about it and didn't ask any more questions. Well, tonight, she just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and witnessed a hen lay an egg. Her mouth flew open and her eyes got wide as she looked at me and said, "NOW I know why you wash those eggs!"

Thought you might enjoy a giggle.

good stuff!

 

[confused]

Chickens have been a part of my life forever. Just a little story. When I was a kid, probably 8 or 9 years old (I'm now 78) we lived in the newly developing oilfields of southern Alberta. Everybody had free natural gas at that time because they just burnt it all off in the flares anyway.We had a big pipe (about 8" or 10" in diameter) that Dad had the gas piped in to. This burned all the time to heat the big, uninsulated garage it was in. Mum used to keep a barrel of barley soaking there which she fed to the pigs and chickens. The one barrel full brewed so she dumped it out on the ground outside the garage. The chickens, which of course were all free range back then, ate the grain. Believe me, chickens can get drunk and they make quite a spectacle of themselves when they do. Happy chicken raising everyone.

 

[therapydoglady]

Confused: My great grandfather, waaaaay back up the mountain from our house in Arkansas, had a still hidden by the creek and brewed moonshine. When he had left over sour mash, he'd feed it to the pigs and chickens...they ARE a hoot!

 

[HappyHenMama]

I can't even imagine how hilarious a "drunk chicken" must be!

 

[fowlman01]

Mine are still picky about what they eat so I am still discovering what they like. They like meal worms of any kind. Most foods they are kind of okay about but some the hide under the bedding and make me think they like...until I discover there stash. Maybe they are just a much more spoiled version of me, I use to hid food I didn't like too and I am not a touch person.

You will never find a starved chicken next to a bowl of food they don't like.

Mine don't like milo, but they don't get any more food until they eat it all.

Walt

 

[caj1985]

You will never find a starved chicken next to a bowl of food they don't like.

Mine don't like milo, but they don't get any more food until they eat it all.

Walt

You also won't find one that is allowed to free range starving if there is anything to eat nearby. Yesterday my Sicilian Buttercup bantams and my LF Araucana chicks (12 weeks old) found my oat patch in the garden. You should have seen them jumping/flying twice their height to reach the seed heads and bend them over to eat them. I was watching and didn't mind since I put them it to feed them. If they harvest themselves, it saves me the work in this heat.

I have just basically let them have the garden because everything here is burned up except my watermelons and cantelopes which are in a different area.

 

[Minchi]

I just take the approach that that never worked for me. I actually have cut down on food outside there feed lately, they started not eating it waiting for the next treat.

 

[al6517]

Over treating LOL...................... the curse of the BYCer, chickens are finicky eaters because their owners choose for them to be that way. My birds eat what they are given to eat and love it, and like Walt they don't get more until it's all cleaned up. Our birds without treats also tend to be much more healthy internaly and externaly than finicky table scrap treated chickens. It's like when you have young children and it's dinner time, they should be fed well balanced meals rich in vitamins and protiens etc etc, but like most kids they often don't like that sort of food and get finicky. Now some parents (OT's) tell them to eat it or no desert, and they will grow up big and strong ever hear that. Then you have parents who because their children won't eat the good for them healthy foods they feed them junk food way to often and let them snack/treats also too often. the result of that is apparent in our society now.................. very large Obese children who are unhealthy and unable to excersie and then leave themselfs open to other health problems down the road.

Same thing applys to most animals, it's the owners and care givers who risk their overall long term health by treating to often and over exccessively.

Moral of the story................ feed chickens chicken feed or other outdoor goodies that are natural to them, if your concerned for your chickens as much as you would like others to believe this should be sound advice, but more often looked upon with distain because it's cruel to not spoil you chickens with human food that's realy not good for them.