Feeding fresh greens to my chickens

LisaFoster

In the Brooder
7 Years
Oct 23, 2012
26
1
24
Batesville, Arkansas
I've only had my chickens for a little over two weeks now, but I've discovered that they absolutely love freshly picked turnip and mustard greens. I've been feeding them laying pellets and oyster shell, and supplementing that with fresh greens and black sunflower seeds. Is this ok? Will it improve the nutritional value of the eggs?
 
Chickens naturally eat a variety of greens and bugs.
If they are not free ranging, then tossing in some greens and table scraps is a good idea.
Increasing the nutritional value of the eggs is always up for debate.
Some nutrients pass thru to the egg, some do not.
All I can say is it certainly helps the nutritional needs of the chicken and, thereby, could increase the nutritional value of the egg.
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There's an interesting article from Mother Earth News about the nutritional value of free range chicken eggs vs. commercial eggs. Some of the differences are suspected to be due to the fact that they are out eating bugs and greens and such.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx
It makes sense to me! We feed ours any greens we can, along with cottage cheese, yogurt, pumpkin, etc.
 
Since we live in town, we can't let ours free range, so every week I buy a variety of things to throw into their run, like cabbage, romaine lettuce, apples, peaches, pears, etc. I also asked a bunch of my coworkers to save their pumpkins for me, got two so far :)
 
We can't let ours free range either. They have plenty of room, but no grass, so I feel like I need to add as much to their diet as I can. Thanks for all the food ideas. This site is so great for us new eggs.
 
Just a suggestion you keep down the amount of sunflower seeds you feed. Say, 4 or 5 each no more if feeding daily. They love them (I know!) but if allowed to eat enough of them they can get fat. The seeds have high fat content. And a fat chicken won't lay. Lots of bvaried veg and fruit is excellent, though.
 
4 or 5 seeds a day? I've seen feed formulas with way more BOSS in them than that. I throw a few hand fulls a day to my flock of twenty in addition to what they find under the bird feeders. I don't think mine have a weight issue.
 

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