Do yo feed Your flock KITCHEn scraps...

[3KillerBs]

OK, it's not just me...I was going to say "I know what all those words mean, but they don't make any sense to me when you put them together".

Indeed.

I have teenagers so if I need to save bacon from a batch to use in a recipe I have to put it aside first and write death threats on the bag.

I’m a little nervous about egg shells. I’ve heard they’ll start eating their eggs?

Me too, which is why I only give the ladies egg shells after crushing them into flakes.

 

[MissE]

I give them veggie and fruit scraps and egg shells on a regular basis in the winter. Most meat scraps go the dogs, but during molting season I give them to the chickens.

Most of my old bread gets saved for stuffing, so they don't get much of that.

If I find discounted cauliflower or cabbage, I buy it for them.

Last year I bought 8 large pumpkins from Aldi's for $3 each. I was everyone's best friend then, let me tell you!

During the summer they get to forage, so most veggie scraps go in the compost, but they still get most of the eggshells and fruit scraps. Frozen melon guts and peels are a lovely treat on a hot summer day.

When we get a heavy rain, I collect worms and throw them over the fence. They go nuts for them, and it's cheap entertainment for me.

 

[Vacman]

Leftover bacon? Are you ill?

I never knew there was such a thing!

 

[Vicker]

I often throw them scraps and leftovers--both meat and veg. I don't do it every day. I don't give them a large amount of something very spicy, nor lots of bread products. I give them garden trimmings and crushed eggshells. They love it. They hear my backdoor creak and come running from every direction. They have access to their feed at all times and in warm seasons will eat every blade of grass and bug before they eat the pellets, even if I never provided any people food.

 

[cooingdove]

yes I feed chickens scraps! I mean why not? I give them the same amount of food, scraps or no scraps. I poor them out on the ground like 20 feet away from the coop and then they choose wether to eat them or not.

 

[wstephens]

I would refrain from giving them egg shells. It might encourage them to eat their own eggs. Oyster shells work well and are cheap.

 

[cooingdove]

I would refrain from giving them egg shells. It might encourage them to eat their own eggs. Oyster shells work well and are cheap.

agreed.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

The key to feeding eggshells is just to make them not look like eggs. If they’re crushed, the chickens won’t associate them with eggs.

Many, many people here do it with no issue, so this feels like one of the “false concerns” around chicken raising.

 

[jreardon1918]

All kitchen scraps, minus bones go in the enclosed chicken run. What they don't like gets scratched into the bedding. In the spring and fall all the goodness goes back into the gardens.

 

[Sally PB]

leftover cooked bacon on occasion

I've never heard of "leftover cooked bacon." What is that? Some exotic new kale? A relative of the oyster? Hmmm.

1) I rarely eat bread at all and 2) my chickens won't eat it.

My chickens can explain to your chickens what they're missing. Bread is the only treat that they will get on my lap for.