Hen treats

[my5hens]

I keep seeing "treats" mentioned on these boards. What sort of treats do hens love? Can you buy them in a store?

I give my girls canned salmon once in a while and they LOVE it! Not so crazy about tuna though

 

[Maggie C]

"Treats" are anything you give your chickens other than their regular chicken feed. There is a chart on this website that tells what is ok and what is not. I have found that my girls will eat almost anything I put out for them but they do have their favorites and when they hear the door open they come running to see 1) if it is me or my husband - if it is DH they just go back to what they were doing and 2) if it is me - what do I have in my hand for them to eat. Once you start giving them treats they expect it! LOL I raise earthworms and give them a few a couple of times a week, they love leftover salad - or any kind of greens, bananas, pears, peaches, cantalope, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers,etc.

 

[K-12 Chickens]

You can buy treats in a feed store such as meal worms, scratch or a flock block(huge, compressed block of grains for poultry). But you give plenty of treats to your chickens right at home.
My chickens love bread, canned & dry catfood(fed sparingly, usually for a protein boost), leftovers(noodle, sauce, cheese, meat,-I'm basically describing a recipe for spagetti!), yogurt, and scrambled eggs. Raw potato skins should be avoided though, because there's something in the raw skin they can't have(cooked skins are good though!). I've found if I have a chicken feeling under the weather (such as when one of mine had an egg partly crack inside her) who wouldn't eat or drink, scrambled eggs did the trick! After she ate those, she started drinking water which chickens vitally need.