Henbit for chicks

[LazyBee]

Hello, I've been reading everyone's tip on food and treats. Yesterday I thought I'd try out the whole henbit as treats for my 2 week old chicks since I had seen several ppl say that their chickens love it.

Henbit and chickweed are growing like wild fire out here so, in went a huge handful! The chicks after a moment of confusion went crazy for it. But the funny thing is I've been switching out big piles of the stuff all day cause they carefully pick out the tiny purple flowers then toss the stem away... and here I thought they'd eat the whole thing and mostly leaves! I'm now making sure there are at least 4 of those tiny purple flowers per stem for my babies.

btw they won't even consider eating apple, grapes (halved) or kiwi, what's up with that?

 

[Imp]

Had to google Henbit to see what it is. I'll have to watch for it this summer. Kind of pretty for a weed.

Chicks, chickens and birds in general are often afraid of new foods. You may need to offer it a few times, till they get used to it. You could try mixing it with a little bit of the Henbit, or other treat they like.

Imp

 

[LunaticCafe]

Went and looked up pics of henbit; seems I have quite a bit of it growing in my garden! Now when I neglect weeding the garden, I can claim I'm growing chicken feed.

 

[Jh1957]

Hello, I've been reading everyone's tip on food and treats. Yesterday I thought I'd try out the whole henbit as treats for my 2 week old chicks since I had seen several ppl say that their chickens love it.

Henbit and chickweed are growing like wild fire out here so, in went a huge handful! The chicks after a moment of confusion went crazy for it. But the funny thing is I've been switching out big piles of the stuff all day cause they carefully pick out the tiny purple flowers then toss the stem away... and here I thought they'd eat the whole thing and mostly leaves! I'm now making sure there are at least 4 of those tiny purple flowers per stem for my babies.

btw they won't even consider eating apple, grapes (halved) or kiwi, what's up with that?

My chickens do the same with violets. I can hold out a handful of clover and plantain with a few violets mixed in and they will grab those purple violets before anything else!