Food Scraps?

[ScottyChic]

Hi - Greetings from Scotland.

Well, their staple diet here is HAGGIS - no, seriously I am joking.

We have kept hens for many years and each day they get Layers Pellets, mixed grain (some say this makes them fat - has not done so to our hens). We also give them loads of food scraps,
avoid white bread - no good and a high salt content. Our hens get pretty much everything. They adore blueberries, cheese (only a small amount), they go crazy for spaghetti Bolognese leftovers,
raw minced beef etc. They are not particularly keen on cucumber/tomatoes but love apples and bananas.
No Avocados, no apple seeds.~~No white potatoes - cooked or raw, skins or flesh. These are toxic to hens. And no onions.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck with your new hens.

p.s - what breed of hens are you getting?

 

[Shabana]

Greetings from the uk

We aren't allowed to feed kitchen scraps to our chickens due to a recent law, which I guess tries to prevent disease through cross contamination.

www.defra.gov.uk/...feed/ban-kitchen-sc...

... That said my chickens all enjoy their many and varied treats which range from the fresh surplus veggies from the allotment which are allowed, to the left over takeaway which is not
I do keep an eye on the salt content and I do tend to feed treats later in the afternoon so they get their proper vitamin intake from their proper food.

Some hens do tend to over eat and I have a bantam orp that's like a feathered football at the mo and these chubby birds can suffer in health and struggle to lay properly and so on so we have to be sensible for them.

Best wishes x

 

[MaPa26]

I am sorry that I cannot recall which thread I read this on, but using the "Search Discussions..." feature, under "Forum", I am sure you can find out more: I read that one poor outcome from over-doing it with kitchen scraps/treats is "Fatty Liver" disease. An over-weight chicken's liver is like a ticking time-bomb. It can suddenly hemorrhage.

The worst things are too many high calorie treats. My girls get plenty of treats and a few kitchen scraps. (we just don't produce very many). Some things that chickens are said to love- mine didn't. But they go nuts for tomatoes (had to fence the garden)

 

[Shabana]

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/byproducts/wastefood/caterwaste.htm

This is a better link for those of you that fall under this legislation.
Personally I think it's crazy and shouldn't apply to small flocks that don't even need to be registered (under 50 birds) but anyhoo forewarned is forearmed ...

Best wishes x

 

[ScottyChic]

Hi - Nice to hear from you.


Just shows you how near, yet so far away we are.................English and Scottish Laws are quite different.
When did this come into play, this Law?
Does that apply to all areas of England and if so, How on earth do they police something like that?
In all reality - who's going to stop feeding their chickens scraps?

 

[chicknmania]

Just use common sense. Not a lot of junk. No salty things, or only a tiny bit. Ours don't get potatoes at all, we had a couple of hens die within hours of each other a long time ago and I'm pretty sure it was from eating potato peels out of the compost pile. I see that it's just the green ones, but I don't want to take chances, No onions, they can be toxic. But ours get a lot of scraps from the fridge too.

 

[Twinklin]

I only feed mine scraps of grains, fruits, veggies and eggs. I don't give them anything with sugar besides fruit, no meat, no citrus, no onions or peppers. I try to keep their diet as natural as possible.

 

[ScottyChic]

Hi - Yes common sense is needed.

I admit that we probably give our hens too much in the way of 'goodies', however we must be doing something right because their average age is 7 - which is very good for a hen.(Rhode Island Red/Light Sussex/Hybrids).
Our Pekins don't get much in the way of treats, perhaps some apple (without the seeds) and banana.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Is it just raw onions, or what about cooked onions in leftovers? We have little kids who don't always eat everything on their plate and its a shame to put it in the trash if it can't go in the compost. It feels better feeding it to somebody even the chickens.

Also whats wrong with avocados? I never heard of that one. I just gave my layers half of one that went bad.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/byproducts/wastefood/caterwaste.htm

This is a better link for those of you that fall under this legislation.
Personally I think it's crazy and shouldn't apply to small flocks that don't even need to be registered (under 50 birds) but anyhoo forewarned is forearmed ...

Best wishes x

shabana- neither of those links are working. I keep getting error messages through the site.