Eat with chickens

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I never thought about this! Does it attract other "fun" animals? How much space do you need for this? I am going to add this in the run this summer!!

I love giving my chickens the scraps!

We have the fattest squirrels in the neighborhood, but other than that we've had no issues with pests.

MY setup is pretty large, but to compost in the run you don't really need a ton of space...just enough to pile up food waste and carbon and let the chickens have at it. You can pile it back up for them to knock down if you'd like, although that's hardly required.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I have a compost bucket on the counter that collects all the kitchen waste. Unfortunately, it collects some things that the chickens shouldn't have, like coffee grounds. So the bucket contents go into the compost bin. DH thinks we have too much clutter/junk on the counter already (he's right), so a separate bucket for non-chicken waste is just not going to happen.

Just out of curiosity, other than the coffee grounds what do you put in the "compost but not chicken" category?

I have a separate container for coffee grounds, but I don't even compost them...I apply them directly to the lawn. In theory, I wouldn't even need a container, as I could just walk out in the lawn in my bathrobe and bunny slippers and dump the coffee grounds directly on the lawn. At this point, I don't even think my neighbors would be surprised by this.

 

[Sally PB]

Just out of curiosity, other than the coffee grounds what do you put in the "compost but not chicken" category?

Anything that's gone "icky," like bruised bananas or other fruit, forgotten stuff with mold, tea bags, aforementioned coffee grounds, dregs of chips at the bottom of the bag, sour dairy products, citrus peels.

 

[alcarl]

I don't know what is BSFL (I live in Germany). I used the commercial feed for laying hens and then added what we have at hand. Besides winter, they have tons of homegrown veggies to enjoy. Last year we harvested about 150kg of veggies and fruits, and I guessed, chickens consumed at least another 50kg, especially all kinds of leafy greens.

BSFL - Black Soldier Fly Larvae

You said you had some in one of the bowls and I was wondering if you fed them to your chickens once they reach their pupal stage.

 

[Iluveggers]

I do a similar thing with my compost. I have a bucket on the counter that gets emptied when full (coffee grounds, banana & citrus peels, eggshells when I am too lazy to crush them up) and a separate bowl I keep in the fridge for veggie scraps. In the winter it gets dark before I finish prepping dinner, so I don’t like throwing food in the run when the chickens are asleep or just before they go in. I’ll dump the bowl of scraps from the fridge in the run in the morning so they have all day to pick through it. I feel like the fridge keeps the scraps “fresher” overnight but that’s probably just human me being too much. Lol

ETA the counter compost bowl goes in the pile at the edge of the woods every few days.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Yeah, in my system, all those things...banana peels, citrus scraps, tea bags, plus lots of scraps of paper, cardboard, paper towel, all go into the chicken run compost.

If I had a large amount of moldy items, I'd maybe toss them elsewhere, but if there's a tiny spot of mold it goes in as well. Anything the chickens don't eat (and they seem to do a good job of knowing what they want) gets composted in.

So, the citrus scraps probably don't feed the chickens directly, but they feed the worms, and the worms feed the chickens.

The black gold that comes out of the run in huge quantities is really amazing stuff...especially compared to the "new england woodland" soil the rest of the yard has.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

BSFL - Black Soldier Fly Larvae

You said you had some in one of the bowls and I was wondering if you fed them to your chickens once they reach their pupal stage.

Ah, then yes, I kept giving them dried BSFL (I thought it's a kind of specific feed). Usually I mix them with some sunflower seeds and give them in the afternoon as a snack.

Recently I tried to get 1kg fresh BSFL, both chickens and quails love them! I am still thinking if I really want to farm the living ones for a more sustainable supply. However, I didn't decide yet, too many garden projects for this year.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I do a similar thing with my compost. I have a bucket on the counter that gets emptied when full (coffee grounds, banana & citrus peels, eggshells when I am too lazy to crush them up) and a separate bowl I keep in the fridge for veggie scraps. In the winter it gets dark before I finish prepping dinner, so I don’t like throwing food in the run when the chickens are asleep or just before they go in. I’ll dump the bowl of scraps from the fridge in the run in the morning so they have all day to pick through it. I feel like the fridge keeps the scraps “fresher” overnight but that’s probably just human me being too much. Lol

ETA the counter compost bowl goes in the pile at the edge of the woods every few days.

What I am doing is almost the same like yours.

For the eggshells, I usually collect them on a tray and let them dry, or send into oven when I use the oven. Then the next day when I use the food processor, they will be crushed, partly for chicken, mostly to be composted. If I didn't crush them, they will remain in the compost for years

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Yeah, in my system, all those things...banana peels, citrus scraps, tea bags, plus lots of scraps of paper, cardboard, paper towel, all go into the chicken run compost.

If I had a large amount of moldy items, I'd maybe toss them elsewhere, but if there's a tiny spot of mold it goes in as well. Anything the chickens don't eat (and they seem to do a good job of knowing what they want) gets composted in.

So, the citrus scraps probably don't feed the chickens directly, but they feed the worms, and the worms feed the chickens.

The black gold that comes out of the run in huge quantities is really amazing stuff...especially compared to the "new england woodland" soil the rest of the yard has.

This reminds me how good chickens can help to produce compost. Once we have only open compost piles, those look like metal cages, and I was new to make compost - I didn't properly cut the rest of green waste smaller, just put everything inside. As a result, whatever inside remained, not much change.

Last summer we expanded the chicken run to cover that area and removed the metal cage. Our 5 senior hens immediately occupied there and started worked all day. After few months, holy molly, only few branches were still there, the rest became the "black gold" you mentioned.

All I need to do now is to change the fence a bit and harvest those gold for planting, chickens are the kings of making good compost!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Good morning, Chefs for the beloved chickens!

Today we have beetroots, carrots, apple and kiwi peels, frozen peas (blanched and just need to be soaked in boild water for a short time, one of my favorite multifunctional frozen ingredients), bottom of cabbage, roasted eggshells ("roasted" sounds fancy!)

The color of beetroots is always amazing. I once mixed them with noodles, oh my, it looks like worms, hahaha.

A bright combination

Some tiny dried shrimps(Gammarus fossarum), I always have this and dried oregano leaves for daily feed.

Their brunch for today

In fact I have a doubt about dried peas. Some said chickens should never eat dried beans, including peas. However, it's common here to find dried and crushed peas in some commercial feeds, same for lentils. I did give them those feed, and it seems totally fine for them. What are your experiences?