Feeding your chickens apples

[Micky B]

Ye

Extra produce just for them? That's something I'd definitely want to try!

Yes, I do that too. Half my veggies garden belongs to my flock: kale, mustard greens, turnip greens and spinash. With the spring that just arrived, I plan to increase it to melon, watermelon and pumpkin as suggested elsewhere in the post. They get like kids at a party when they get treats.

I also feed mine scrabled eggs + the shell, lightly fried in sunflower oil, unsalted as chickens can get salt poisining. They love it. And stale sesame seed buns and bread crusts. They also like wild bird seeds and sunflower seeds.

 

[lovechickenswis]

Yes eggs are good. I also raise quail and I just boiled a bunch of quail eggs to feed them. I just boil them and smash them shells and all. Good source of calcium and protein once winter comes.

 

[lovechickenswis]

My birds also love dried mealy worms. They are kind of an expensive treat and you do not want to feed them to many cause they can get the runs. My daughters chicken will fly up on her arm for treats. She also knows where we keep them and thanks to her so does everyone else now. So when anyone goes near the feed containers they are immediately surrounded by a bunch of beggars. They get very greedy when it comes to mealy worms.

 

[breaktime58]

Lol, Chickens eat every thing and darn near anything they can get ahold of! Frogs, mice, left overs, veggies right out of the garden, etc, etc, etc. Strangest thing I've ever seen one of my girls eat was a snake........ The other chickens were chasing after her trying to get a bite.. She swallowed it whole! It was dragging on the ground behind her at first..... She swallowed and swallowed and swallowed ........ till it was all gone.............

 

[Lois Little]

I have 28 hens, 4 ea. of 7 different kinds, including 4 Aracandas. Their outside pen is next to the gtarden, so whenever I go to the garden, they all come to the fence and cackle at me. They know I will throw them tomatoes and green beans. I was surprised to hear that chickens ate bananas. I have not given mine any. I did give them a heap of apples one day and it didn't take long for them to gobble them up.

 

[sissyrme]

Cut up apples into chunks and add some water to the saucepan and heat till apples are broken down or soupy...they will love the warm treat too! Looks like applesauce, because it is! Don't add sugar as we humans do. Rice is another filler for chickens...and of course everything left over from meals from meat bones to veggies...they eat everything. I knew a gal who had bought a jar of pickled garlic and forgot it...it fermented. She gave this to the chickens and her whole coop smelled of garlic from their droppings.........was quite nice! When we clean out the bad leaves off the veggie garden we toss them to the chickens too and they make quite a feast of it.

 

[AustinRhea]

I was peeling and cutting apples to dehydrate, so I gave my girls all the skins, cores, and other pieces I had to cut off. They ate all of it but the skins. I don't know if they ate some of them and left the rest or if they didn't touch any of them. They LOVE bananas and watermelon. They will chase each other around for tomatoes and bananas. They also like the green beans from the garden. There have been some fruit and veggies they wanted nothing to do with and others that they can't get enough of. I've been giving them so much fruits and veggies, they now come out into the run and start calling to me when they hear me walk outside. It is so funny and is becoming an afternoon show to stand and watch them.

 

[Sp0iledFl0ck]

My kids love apples, and I'm lucky enough to have a pumpkin patch in town that lets me take broken pumpkins from the patch for free every Fall. We also have a veggie stand that puts out damaged/overripe fruit/vegs for free, too. The pumpkin is the crowd favourite!

 

[Lois Little]

If you have never given your girls grapes, try them. Mine love them. I think watermelon is their very favorite, though. They will drink the juice, then eat all but a very thin rind. I have to wonder about giving the hens bread and such, due to the fat, salt and sugar in them. Anyone?

 

[lovechickenswis]

Everyone I know with chickens gives them bread. I have not heard that it is bad.