Foods for chickens

[Sunshine 123]

Most veggies, less apple seeds, no avocado pit or skin, what else is off limits?

 

[donrae]

I don't consider anything off limits. I trust my birds not to eat what they don't want.

I've tossed pretty much anything we eat into the run. they either eat it or it composts.

that said, I've started not giving them most peels. Onion, citrus, banana, avocado, potato. My birds don't seem to eat those things much. So, I save the space in their scrap bowl and put those right on the compost pile.

Apple seeds are fine. There's such minute amounts of the chemical in there, they'd have to eat tons to have any effect. I give mine apple cores/peels from processing applesauce, etc every fall.

 

[mamatink7]

Most veggies, less apple seeds, no avocado pit or skin, what else is off limits?

Onions, asparagus(your eggs will turn green if they have alot), raw potato peels, citrus (acidity, but our girls love the occasional pecking at oranges), dried or raw beans, sugary treats, white flour (bread. Crackers)- make them bloated and not able to eat their feed.
Great treats for layers:
Corn, black oil sunflower seeds, meal worms & other tasty human treats

 

[BigBirdRick]

Onions, asparagus(your eggs will turn green if they have alot)

Really my girls have been eating the above mentioned and all we get is gorgeous big brown eggs!

 

[PapaBear4]

My take on this is the same as donrae. When I see the "do not feed" lists I can only assume that there would only be a problem if they got A LOT of whatever it is they're not supposed to have.

Take potato peels for example. If you peel potatoes for your family of four and then feed them to your dozen hens, no issue. But if you peel potatoes for a Thanksgiving dinner for 30, you may have an issue. Trust nature, but at the same time, try not to balance the scale against nature.

I've fed our girls anything that comes out of the kitchen. The only things they don't eat are citrus, things too hard to eat, and Walmart birthday cake. Seriously. Maybe I should take note!

PapaBear

 

[Noreaster Egger]

Yeah...mine get almost any whole food minus citrus and avocados. I would love to give them some scrap avocado, but too many people leave me scared about the idea on here. Of course, the now wild chickens in Kauai frequently dine on them with, I assume, no ill effects.

Most of their "treats" consist of BOSS, thistle seed, salad greens, red bell pepper seeds, sweet potato, mealworms/dead beetles, and whole sardines...and all of that is occasional with the brunt of their winter diet being ferment and some layer feed.