Do yo feed Your flock KITCHEn scraps...

[Malamute1]

Leftover bacon? Are you ill?

Who ever has left over bacon??

 

[rosemarythyme]

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

Well as long as I'm not eating it they won't be getting extra shots at it. Definitely not going to go out and buy bread just so chickens can think about maybe eating some!

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Yes! Mine get scraps often. Watermelon rind, stale but not moldy bread, veggie scraps, leftover popcorn, plain spaghetti noodles.
This is a pretty good list of what scraps and treats chickens can have and how often. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/chicken-treats/

 

[Sally PB]

Definitely not going to go out and buy bread just so chickens can think about maybe eating some!

LOL! No, don't waste your money on stuff you and your chickens don't like!

Yours are the first chickens I've ever heard of that don't like bread. So it works out well that they are your chickens, doesn't it? Sometimes things just work out right.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yours are the first chickens I've ever heard of that don't like bread. So it works out well that they are your chickens, doesn't it? Sometimes things just work out right.

It's amazing how tastes differ between flocks. Like mine also don't eat cabbage and lettuce, which are pretty popular scraps/treats a lot of people offer, but they love strawberries, which some folks report their flocks not wanting at all.

 

[Pet Educate]

Moderation is certainly the key if you are going to offer scraps. Around 10% of the total diet is a good rule of thumb to generally aim for.

But it does also depend on the type of scrap you are looking to offer and the season.

 

[Matejka]

My girls are persnickity about their vege scraps - no brocolli, cabbage, hard carrot tops. They love leafy greens, squash seeds, tomatoes, grapes, beef fat scraps (a treat!). They didn't like uncooked chicken hearts, gizzards (not surprising). Still testing new things. Question: When I make stock from a chicken carcass, carrots, celery, onions, and I strain off the stock leaving all these beautify cooked veges and some cooked chicken meat, would your chickens like the leavings and is it OK to give them "cooked" people food?.

Made stock yesterday, and yes, they love the parts left after you strain the stock!

 

[3KillerBs]

All kitchen scraps, minus bones go in the enclosed chicken run.

I throw mine bones on purpose. They can get the clinging scraps better than I can so I don't feel that I'm wasting anything.

I just pick the bones up after the chickens are done with them. The next morning or the next week depending on the weather -- I don't want to draw flies in hot weather, but if it's fridge-cold all day for a week the bones aren't going to spoil in the chicken run any more than they'd spoil in the fridge.

 

[IamRainey]

I feed scraps. If it isn't moldy and isn't starchy I let them have it. If it's protein I definitely include it. If we don't have much in the way of vegetable scrap I give them a bag of Trader Joe's shredded cabbage.

They seem to love it!

Naturally, they have a constant supply of their balanced layer feed as well. I'm not attempting to feed them on scraps. Just to offer some supplement. My chickens denuded their yard long ago. Some vegetative stuff that they would otherwise be able to forage for themselves seems called for.

 

[K0k0shka]

Mine are incredibly picky, so they’ve killed my enthusiasm for recycling kitchen scraps. I don’t give them anything starchy or moldy, and, as for the rest, they’ll eat some of the fruit, and leave out any vegetables. They think pumpkin is a vegetable and avoid it, too. And definitely anything green! They side-eye green foods like picky eater kids. So I throw the vegetable scraps in the food processor and then mix them with the regular feed crumble and water to make a clumpy mash, which they LOVE. And that’s how I get them to eat their veggies