Frozen Vegetables

[gabigabgab]

Hi!
Im wanting to offer cooling options to my flock. what bagged frozen veggies and fruit are safe to purchase for them from the grocery store. I'm getting mixed reviews googling. wanting to know what people do to keep their flock cool during the summer heat. I'm in south Texas and our heat waves are brutal! thanks in advance!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome!
I am in Houston Texas so know your heat very well.

I prefer to not feed my birds any treats because they take away from the birds getting a balanced diet.

What I will do this time of year is put fresh cool water out for them multiple times a day and in the afternoon what ever feed they haven't eating I mix in some fresh cool water and they think that is a nice cool treat.


You can try a bag of peas. Just know that what ever you offer keep it to a small amount worth per day. Think one tablespoon worth per bird.

 

[BastyPutt]

There are very few things that you can't feed chickens. Some people even feed their chickens, chicken. They are pretty good at leaving alone what wouldn't be good for them. But in general, your efforts would be best spent cooling them in other ways. Not to take away from a good frozen snack, but it isn't something to rely on in keeping their temps down. With that said, here are a few ideas!

Small bits of frozen foods would be gobbled up pretty quick. so make them work for it.

- We have a deep freezer and quarter watermelons, then throw those out - or cantaloupes. We will also blend the watermelon, water and their crumble together into a slurry, and freeze it in gallon bags.

- we feed fermented grain daily now, and instead of scooping it into the troughs, we will fill the aluminum pans and freeze chunks of that for them. You could do this with a lot of things.

- then, good old blocks of ice are great. They will peck at it and play with it.

 

[EddieSalita]

Whatever is cheap that they also like. Freezing your own is an option. If apples or bananas are cheap. Bananas are probably one of the cheapest fruit of all. Nutrient dense. Not much protein though.
My girls love frozen berries, green beans and peas. For some reason they don't like frozen corn. We have banana trees. So they get frozen banana also. They love banana. Just remember to peel them so they don't go mushy.

You can also cook up grains like oats, barley, wheat, amd freeze em into a dense block. They persist quite well in this form in the heat. In fact there is probably nothing stopping you soaking pellets and freezing them into a block. I must try that.

 

[theoldchick]

Watermelon and cantaloupe can really help cool off hot poultry. Feeding frozen veggies fresh from the freezer can be traumatizing to the crop and may cause it to stop functioning properly=sour crop.

 

[Percheron chick]

Instead of going out and buying, start with your freezer. Clean out open bags of fruits and vegetables. I give them mystery freezer burnt meats, rolls... just about everything I can no longer identify. Can't justify throwing it away. You can fill plastic containers with kitchen scraps, cover with water and freeze.