Grass clippings in the run??

[brendaanddaveriley]

Sorry but I disagree with part of that 9 point list and I'd like to elaborate on a couple of the points. Old timer chicken raisers like my Mom who as far as I can remember kept chickens and never had a sick one always feed the potato peelings to the chickens. Now I'll grant you our potatoes never stuck around long enough to turn green and my own chickens much prefer that I fry those peelings up and then let them cool before they devour them, so just to clarify, I think potato is fine as long it's not green (you shouldn't eat the green either) but if you peel the green off, wash and cook the potato it's fine for you or your chickens. They will like them better and eat, if not all, the most of the potato if you cook and cool it first. TIP: try frying up even the peelings for them, especially in your left over bacon grease, they love 'em. As with anything, in moderation.
Secondly, beans, peas, or any legume is fine for them as long as it is cooked so as not to expand in their craw.
Dairy, totally disagree! We made buttermilk, butter, farmer's cheese, and yogurt and always gave any we couldn't get to, to the chickens and pigs. In moderation. Try mixing it with left over breads or "COOKED" RICE. Again in moderation.
It's been my experience that their instincts pretty much tell them what they shouldn't eat and even then their different personalities "and believe they all have their own" will also govern what they will eat and what they won't. Good Luck and don't worry too much as chickens are not that fragile.

PS. Here's a basic list of things to feed chickens and to raise in your garden to feed chickens:
Poultry:

• Cooked summer and winter squash
• Cooked or raw root vegetables
• Milk from our cow and whey from cheesemaking
• Bugs and worms if birds are allowed to free range
• Painted Mountain corn
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Flax seeds
• Kitchen scraps
• Weeds

 

[woodworm]

Not massively relevant, but in the UK it's illegal to feed your chickens kitchen scraps - the only exclusion is if you're a completely vegan household. If you're going to give your birds peelings or leaves, you need to prepare them outside before the food comes into the kitchen.

 

[Lilalienangel]

I don't spray so I don't ever spend money on bedding in the summer.. My chickens love it too. Just try to make sure you steer away from grasses that have sharp seed and pokey weeds..

Hello.
I have heard both. Yea and nay! So, what is your opinion?
Can/should you put fresh mowed grass clippings in the run?
I would love to hear from multiple people. Why you do or don't.
Any dangers or advantages.
Thanks in advance.
p.s. I hope I posted in the right forum...

 

[Lilalienangel]

Not massively relevant, but in the UK it's illegal to feed your chickens kitchen scraps - the only exclusion is if you're a completely vegan household. If you're going to give your birds peelings or leaves, you need to prepare them outside before the food comes into the kitchen.

Why is it illegal?

 

[woodworm]

It's to prevent disease. If you remember the foot and mouth outbreak 15 years (ish) ago they believe that developed because farm animals were fed undercooked catering waste.

In the UK chickens are classed as farm animals and it's now illegal to feed farm animals kitchen waste. In all honesty I don't think it should apply to people that have backyard chickens that are consuming their own eggs, but at present the law doesn't differentiate between my mum with her 2 chickens or a large scale farmer with several thousand hens.

APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps because of disease risk

 

[littlebitamber]

I’m thankful you asked th is because I’ve been wondering. We don’t have a place for our chickens to free range and they already mowed down what they did have. I’ve heard a bunch of things against grass clippings cause they could be too long. So my crazy self I’ve been cutting some bits by hand and then into small pieces. We have a mower that doesn’t make ours in small bits.

 

[gtaus]

Sorry but I disagree with part of that 9 point list and I'd like to elaborate on a couple of the points. Old timer chicken raisers like my Mom who as far as I can remember kept chickens and never had a sick one always feed the potato peelings to the chickens. Now I'll grant you our potatoes never stuck around long enough to turn green and my own chickens much prefer that I fry those peelings up and then let them cool before they devour them, so just to clarify, I think potato is fine as long it's not green (you shouldn't eat the green either) but if you peel the green off, wash and cook the potato it's fine for you or your chickens. They will like them better and eat, if not all, the most of the potato if you cook and cool it first. TIP: try frying up even the peelings for them, especially in your left over bacon grease, they love 'em. As with anything, in moderation.
Secondly, beans, peas, or any legume is fine for them as long as it is cooked so as not to expand in their craw.
Dairy, totally disagree! We made buttermilk, butter, farmer's cheese, and yogurt and always gave any we couldn't get to, to the chickens and pigs. In moderation. Try mixing it with left over breads or "COOKED" RICE. Again in moderation.
It's been my experience that their instincts pretty much tell them what they shouldn't eat and even then their different personalities "and believe they all have their own" will also govern what they will eat and what they won't. Good Luck and don't worry too much as chickens are not that fragile.

From what I understand, green potatoes are those potatoes that are exposed to sunlight and not covered by the ground. Green potatoes would be toxic to us humans too.

Cooked beans would be fine for the chickens. But raw and dried beans could expand and cause problems for the chicken.

I have given modest amounts of leftover dairy products to my chickens and they did not seem to have any ill effects. I suppose it's a matter of how much they eat. If I give them dairy products, I always mix it in some dry grains. Frankly, I was surprised dairy was on this banned list of items for chickens.

I agree that chickens are not all that fragile, and they might be able to handle anything in reasonable amounts. As in any "list", there will be disagreements. But it's a starting point.

 

[gtaus]

In the UK chickens are classed as farm animals and it's now illegal to feed farm animals kitchen waste.

I have heard that before but have never quite understood the concern. One of the main reasons I keep a backyard flock is to reduce/recycle our household waste products and turn it in to something good, like eggs and compost. If Dear Wife and I are OK to eat the food on our plates, then I figure our chickens will survive just fine eating the leftovers. It's not their main feed, but they sure do seem to enjoy any kitchen scraps we save for them.

And, more to the point of this thread, I dump almost all my grass clippings from mowing the lawn into the chicken run. The chickens eat what they want and the rest turns into deep litter which is composting in place.

 

[gtaus]

I’m thankful you asked th is because I’ve been wondering. We don’t have a place for our chickens to free range and they already mowed down what they did have. I’ve heard a bunch of things against grass clippings cause they could be too long. So my crazy self I’ve been cutting some bits by hand and then into small pieces. We have a mower that doesn’t make ours in small bits.

There has been some discussion and concern about feeding "long" grass clippings to chickens because it might, somehow, get compacted in their crop and maybe develop into sour crop. When I mow the lawn, my grass clippings are 2 inches or less and I have never had a problem. The thinking on long grass clippings is that a free range chicken would be biting off short sections of grass that is still rooted in the ground - so, not a long 6 inch blade at one time. I don't think my mower would even collect 6 inch long blades of grass in the bagger. However, if you have very long grass that you mow, you could probably take 2 inches off the top and mow it a second time if you wanted to ensure the grass clippings remain short.

If you are cutting grass clippings by hand, you are, IMHO, putting too much effort into the project. Again, to me, a small clipping of grass is anything 2 inches or less. I typically mow my lawn when it is 3-4 inches tall and I set my mower to 2 inches. So, I only get the top 1-2 inches of the grass blades in my bagger.

 

[littlebitamber]

There has been some discussion and concern about feeding "long" grass clippings to chickens because it might, somehow, get compacted in their crop and maybe develop into sour crop. When I mow the lawn, my grass clippings are 2 inches or less and I have never had a problem. The thinking on long grass clippings is that a free range chicken would be biting off short sections of grass that is still rooted in the ground - so, not a long 6 inch blade at one time. I don't think my mower would even collect 6 inch long blades of grass in the bagger. However, if you have very long grass that you mow, you could probably take 2 inches off the top and mow it a second time if you wanted to ensure the grass clippings remain short.

If you are cutting grass clippings by hand, you are, IMHO, putting too much effort into the project. Again, to me, a small clipping of grass is anything 2 inches or less. I typically mow my lawn when it is 3-4 inches tall and I set my mower to 2 inches. So, I only get the top 1-2 inches of the grass blades in my bagger.

That’s super helpful! My husband rolls his eyes at me all the time. I never had chickens before so I don’t want to kill them my first go round! Thank you!