Fun for chickens?

[krcote]

Choking is not common.

 

[MeettheFlockers]

Quote:
That would be great for them!!

 

[Andi]

About the apple, see post #6. They will be afraid of anything new. Its natural for any prey animal to be cautious.

I was amazed at the stuff they eat. Just about anything except citrus. Now I don't have to worry about table scraps anymore, since getting the chickens. They devour everything.

 

[Annabella]

We bought a fresh coconut but only ate half. I threw the other half out (shell and all).

It's been a week but I see now that they have almost pecked it out clean, they were timid of it at first.

Vegetables that they would not usually eat i.e. celery, broccoli, I dice them up into beak size bites and nothing gets wasted this way.
My guests once saw me cutting up the odds and ends (before the party started) - their worried faces broke into grins when I told them
I chop all the food up for the chooks.

 

[my3chickens]

I'm so worried about them getting something stuck in their throats or choking that I use my Pampered Chef chopper!! Yeah, I'm new to this too...... chicks are 5 weeks old now and I just stopped checking to make sure they were still breathing in the middle of the night!

Love all the ideas posted here.

 

[laturcotte1]

Our hens could pick a pork chop bone clean. And corn on the cob; just throw the whole cob in, of course with the corn on it and they will work until every kernal is gone. Keeps them busy and happy.

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

I noticed a pp said their chickens didnt like citrus. And someone I know locally said his chickens dont either. But mine LOVE grapefruit. (Havent tried oranges and mine dont like apple)
Should I not be letting them eat it?

Also, pp mentioned the hens picking a pork chop bone clean. I was under the impression they shouldnt eat meat???

 

[Andi]

Quote:
When my girls have been out free ranging they spend 99% of the time scratching around looking for bugs.

I thought the same thing also, until I got chickens and started researching them. For me anyway, I would think 'chicken > farm > farms feed their animals grains = therefor chickens must require grains'. I didn't realize that farms that raise chickens do feed their (non-free ranging) chickens high protein. It just happens to be in the form of feed pellets for practicality, cost and storage.

 

[newtothis]

I guess I need to start a bug collection them! I can rustle up tons of snails and worms (I see a worm farm in my future) but is there a notion that too much isn't good or a guideline for how many/day/chicken? Also, those little cuties won't even try the apple. I have enticed them and still nothing!

 

[Andi]

Haha, maybe you have apple connoisseurs and they don't like the selection of type of apple, haha. Hard to say. Chickens are funny. There's some things my girls don't like that other people say their chickens go bonkers over. I suppose its like people. Some people don't care for some foods that others can't get enough of. Don't worry about it. There's even been some foods that my girls didn't care for when they were younger that now they like. I suppose its possible chickens' tastes change with age just like people do.

Its good that you are thinking about making sure you keep a balanced diet. High protein is needed for good egg production, so if you notice a drop off in the egg production (when they get to that point), then you'll know to up the protein. If they get too much fat in their diet it will also reduce production, and make them gain unhealthy weight. Because I live in a northern climate I will slightly increase foods (like corn) just to help them deal with the cold. They get no corn in the Summer. The largest portion of food they receive everyday should be the feed. Also, it can't hurt to remind you that fresh water should always be accessible.

Just in case you haven't stumbled across the info yet, seeing I'm talking about reduced egg production. Not all slow downs in egg laying are diet related.
*Chickens will produce the heaviest in their first 2 years of egg laying.
*Some breeds naturally are heavier producers.
*When chickens are molting there will be little or no egg production (because all the energy goes into new feathers, which btw, you should up the protein and calcium in their diet to help the process).
*Big stressors will also cause them to slow down or stop. For example, last Summer a tornado went through our neighborhood and a neighbor's chickens stopped laying for a month. My girls hadn't started laying yet, so my girls didn't have egg production yet to worry about.
*Hours of daylight plays a huge roll in egg production, so in Winter if you're not providing lighting for them, expect fewer or no eggs.
*Of course there's other health and disease issues that could affect egg production.