How many of you COOK for your chickens???

[hooligan]

This is kind of based on another thread that got derailed, but I was wondering how many of you cook for your chickens, and what you treat them with?
Thanks to this site I tried cooking them some oatmeal and they really liked it, so on days that I am off I have been fixing them something simple to warm them up a bit.
So far I have tried oatmeal with applesauce mixed in and sometimes with molassess or honey. Today I found a box of barley in the cabinet that I had bought for some new dog treat I was making and figured the chickens might like it so I cooked it up and it was a HUGE hit.
Tomorrow is going to be lentils or pasta (they were on sale!). I am on an ex-battery hens forum and the lentils were highly recommended so I thought I'd give them a try.

 

[ChickyGal]

Howdy neighbor! I'm in NW Arkansas. Mine love rice and I buy the huge bag from Sams. And Walmart has a nice big ole bag too.
Shirley

 

[Sunny Chook Farm]

I cook for my chooks.. Oatmeal w/ applesauce or yogurt (they love strawberry yogurt), scrambled eggs, pasta, mashed potatoes, and rice... haven't tried lentil yet...
My Chooks are so rotten, they look forward to their morning and evening treats...

 

[dlhunicorn]

I cook for my birds... but I think it important to point out not to overdue the treats...specially in winter when they are substantially stressed and using their reserves primarily to keep warm...
When I cook oatmeal for instance I mix it through their feed and give a supplement regular to that as anything added will in principle dilute their balanced nutrition in their feed. Be careful with the barley...COOK it first and dont give too much...

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I admit that I do cook alot of pasta for my chickens, they like the broken spaghetti noodles the best...and warm, lol!

 

[MissPrissy]

I cook rice and eggs specifically for them.

They also get all the table scraps of things I cook.

 

[fallenweeble]

well, i cook for my parrots and some of that food i've been giving to the chickens.
i buy pre-packaged mixes for parrots that cook up in large batches, add in chopped up veggies, and freeze in smaller chunks so that i can microwave some each day for the birds.
the chickens LOVE it.
right now we have a batch of "caribbean crunch" and although the parrots aren't so crazy about it the chickens think it's delicious.
the company that makes these mixes is called "beak appetit" if any one is curious about it.

 

[Churkenduse]

Please bare in mind when you cook such things as pasta and white rice that you are not providing them with the nutrients they need. They are used to raw and they should be given raw.


Would you feed your kids candy every day? That is what you are doing to your chicks.

I was told by someone who sells treats for chicks we should only feed it to them no more than 3x per week.

Just my opinion folks please do not jump all over me. My back is starting to hurt.

I may not agree with what you have to say but I will fight to the death your right to say it"​

 

[SeaChick]

I cook for them maybe once a week:
beef heart
oatmeal
scrambled eggs

but I often warm up the previous days table scraps and veggie peelings in the mornings for them... not really cooking, but......

 

[MissPrissy]

Giving chickens uncooked rice is not a good thing. Cooked rice is full of good nutrients. The combination of the rice and chopped boiled egg is only part of what I do for the hens. I also give them homemade yogurt from my own dairy goats. This 'treat' is full of probiotic goodness. Better things in means healthier layers and healthy eggs out.

For the most part I do agree that 'cooking' for chickens is not the best thing.

I also know that some raw foods also it not the best thing for them. Uncooked Rice being among some of the worst.

Edited to add - I would also hesitate to give them raw eggs as this might just be a catalyst to egg eating which is also not such a good thing when we want the eggs for ourselves and our family.