is it good for chickens to eat tablescraps?

I feed mine table scraps.I do watch what I feed them because there are things that they can't eat.But for the most part they will be fine.

 

You are right. That's why it is recommended to keep it to small quantities as a treat. It's OK then.

Imp

 

I feed them whatever they will eat. My 4 month old hens are fat, they need to be in Alaska, shiny and never hungry. LOL They are so well fed they will not be bribed into the coop until they are darn well ready. They would not eat boiled eggs until I fed them egg salad. Now they are nuts for them. They occasionally get bread, have not tried oatmeal but will this winter. I am not sure if I agree with warm food. We were always told NOT to warm an animal out in the colds dinner, it makes them colder. I will see. But judging from how healthey my hens are I think I am doing something right. Oh and they graze and eat bugs all day long.

 

You shouldn't feed them products from their own species - so no meat or eggs (disease transmission)

I have way too many chickens for veggie, fruit and bread scraps to ruin their nutrition or make them fat. One apple core to 200 hens really isn't going to impact them much, but boy do they love it!

I also toss them veggies and fruit that are bruised or starting to go bad. Doesn't impact them a bit. As a matter of fact, you can often find half a dozen birds foraging in my compost bin. they do a great job of turning the compost!

 

If the eggs and chicken meat are hard cooked for human consumption it is not going to spread disease in your chickens anymore than it does in you.

 

I made the floor of my coop into my compost pile. I throw all fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps in there. I don't put in any meat or dairy as I don't want to attract rats (following composting rules here...not chicken feeding "rules"). The chickens also free range all day long.

This has greatly reduced my feed bill. I leave store-bought feed available at all times but they only use it to supplement their diet. I've only bought one bag of feed in the past three months (for five hens).

Another benefit is that it reduces the smell in the coop because they're constantly turning the manure under while scratching up food scraps.

Next spring I'll have gorgeous compost as chicken manure is one of the only animal manures that can go directly into the garden without need for heat composting to kill micro-organisms.

 

Daisy8s, did you read that somewhere about chicken manure not needing heat-composting to be safe? Interested to see the info, as I have been wondering about that. Also, Cassidy22, I'm pretty sure eggs are recommended by lots of learned chicken folks. I feed mine cooked eggs regularly, and chicken occasionally.

 

Good for them and your pocketbook!!

Potato peels are bad though. They contain a toxin.

 

Hope not, because I feed our table scraps to the chickens. My chickens will not eat lettuce though.