Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[Buttercup1979]

I was positive that by midwinter my girls would be eating anything by now but they're still so picky! I try to give them my leftover spinach or carrots or any other greens for that mattef but they never touch it! If I put out any leftover meat products they practically fight over it! I have lots of good sources for veggies but can't use them half the time because they'll let it sit and rot. Does anybody else have picky chickens? Is this common?

 

[TTeddy]

Just a comment, I pick up trim and waste from Safeway, which is certainly a large chain. They even pull the organic stuff for me. Have a waver ready for the store manager (just in case) and try approching the produce manager as thought he is going to say yes.

I also get the spent coffee from a couple of coffee shops by proving five gallon buckets that I picked up every morning. It's great mulch but NOT safe for chickens so we only use it in the front gardens.

Yeah, I think it may be a case of "it's not what you know but who you know." as well.
I started a worm farm a few months ago and with the circumstances at the moment, I don't always have food/scraps for them, so would be great to have some for them.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I was positive that by midwinter my girls would be eating anything by now but they're still so picky! I try to give them my leftover spinach or carrots or any other greens for that mattef but they never touch it! If I put out any leftover meat products they practically fight over it! I have lots of good sources for veggies but can't use them half the time because they'll let it sit and rot. Does anybody else have picky chickens? Is this common?

If it were summer, I would force the issue. You could toss them some fresh greens in the morning and leave them there til they eat them. Or maybe you can give them just a little bit to eat in the morning, nowhere near enough to satisfy them and then in the evening feed them whatever you normally do with lots of veggies cut up and tossed in. Don't give them enough to be picky. Having a light snack for breakfast should make them hungry enough to eat whatever you give them. If it doesn't work on day one, it will likely work on day two.

Question: are your leftover greens salted?

 

[3riverschick]

question about poop texture:
Hi,
I am not sure if this is nutrition related or not.. At least one of my 3 chickens has had a change in poop texture.It is the right color of mixed green and white. But the texture of shaving cream.
I just added vitamins in their water and cleaned the coop. The run is covered, so no wild birds can mingle with them. Is this a bowel tolerance issue with the vitamins? I put them in the water because it is winter. They ate 2 heads of cabbage in a row that I hung in their coop for entertainment, finishing the last one 3 days ago. They spend a lot of time inside here because of the foul weather, but have 4 sq. ft. each inside and I am not seeing anything else which could be a stress problem. They seem healthy and happy. Spritely and alert. They get Layena, and BOSS plus water with vitamins in it. The pullets started laying Jan.1st and Jan.5th. The boy is a year old and sexually mature.Thoughts? Am I missing something, ..obviously. Thanks,
Karen

 

[Lacy Blues]

Karen,

Are they used to having that much cabbage?

Two things I'm thinking of... a little bit of unprocessed apple cider vinegar in their water and some yogurt (plain and unsweetened). These will do wonders for their digestion.

 

[chickenbusiness]

Thank you for sharing the informaiton about the foods that can be grown for the chickens

 

[chickenbusiness]

Buttercup:
Hello-If we have a good corn crop this summer how can we store the corn. What are the steps to saving it for the chickens after it is harvested from the fileds. Would this be field corn that would need to be planted?
Thank you for your expertise on this.

 

[3riverschick]

Karen,

Are they used to having that much cabbage?

Two things I'm thinking of... a little bit of unprocessed apple cider vinegar in their water and some yogurt (plain and unsweetened). These will do wonders for their digestion.

====================
Hi Lacey,
Well, Walt always gave them greens from the grocery. I don't know how much of it was specifically cabbage, it was a variety mix. Ok, I will give them some yogurt in a dish. Don't have any ACV, do you think the yogurt will be enough?
Thanks,
Karen

 

[Lacy Blues]

It may be. Try it. It needs to be plain and unsweetened to get the best benefit.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Before there were grain storage bins on farms, harvested corn-on-the cob was stored in 12 foot in diameter pens referred to as corn-cribs, this structure had a roof with a small overhang. the wire usually 2x4 inch welded wire or some used 2 inch chicken wire. This allowed for the air to circulate and prevent molding. Another method is to not completely shuck the corn and hang several ears together and hang them from a rafter by their husks. Grain used to be sold in 100 pound gunny sacks. this allowed air to circulate and allow moisture to evaporate. Even the 50 pound paper or plastic sacks of today have Small cuts in the material for this purpose . A simpler reply would be to keep it dry and not crimp or grind the grain until ready to use. I am just an old Kansas farm boy of 71+ years and still learning.