Is it OK for my pullets to snack on the following?:

[zippitydooda]

Ok, so you have been giving your hens the leftover chicken/carcass? What about left over beef stew? I know they need protien, but mine are still on chick feed. Is it too soon to start giving them the remnants? They are 7 weeks old.

 

[moetrout]

At 7 weeks I would stick to the more normal sounding chicken treats (ie fruits and veggies). Mine are 19 weeks and get anything that is not salty or spoiled. Last night was the remanents of corn on the cob, rice pilaf, and the fat and grisle from our steak. Nothing wrong with cooked chicken and I have also given mine the remanents of bbq pork ribs. Nothing but bones picked clean when they are done. Any type of left over vegetable matter that you don't eat is great. Ends of carrots, broccolli, cauliflower, corn, cooked taters, over ripe tomatoes (turkey went crazy for that, picked it up and ran off with it before the chickens even knew about it). There is a lot of stuff they will eat. You have to remember that it does NOT have to sound appealing to you. We have very little food waste since getting these birds. Although I have to remind the rest of the family to feed all those great leftovers to the chickens. The way I look at it is every pound of scraps I feed them is a pound of feed I DON'T have to feed them. With the scraps and free ranging all day I bet I am down to about a pound of food a day for 6 chickens and 1 turkey. At 19 weeks and I have used up one 50 pound bag of starter and just this week bought my second bag of feed. Now that I think of it I better see how much food they have tonight. Can't remember the last time I filled the feeder. I know they have food, just not sure how much is in the hopper.

As someone else said it's kind of like feeding pigs. They eat almost anything and mine seem hungry most anytime you have something for them.

 

[ChickenCat]

My chickens free range, chickies and older gals. Every scrap out of my kitchen goes to the chickens, except raw potato skins and onion. Cooked onion, yes, just not raw. I can still taste raw milk from the cow that had been eating wild onions. yuck.
the chicks grab whatever scrap they can and RUN! They know the big girls will take it away given a chance. Meat scraps of any sort are always grabbed first, the veggies are left for those not fast enough for the good pieces.

 

[2DogsFarm]

I try to remember to keep a grocery bag for vegetable & fruit peelings to get tossed to the girls.
They do get any wilted greens form the crisper and fruit gone just past ripe.

They have managed to figure out what it means when I light the BBQ grill.
Probably because I've been in the habit of tossing them a piece of whatever is getting grilled.

But honestly, when they gather round "discussing" it, I feel like asking "Who wants to be next?"

& I confess I did feed them grilled chicken...once...they were a tad too enthusiastic about that..kinda ooged me out

 

[crosbygroup]

Mine love any type of leftovers. I keep two bowls on my kitchen counter. One bowl is for the compost bin: coffee grounds, pineapple tops, potato peals etc. The other is for the girls: left overs like rice, veggies, cooked egg, small bits of meat (the dogs get the big pieces) and what ever else was on the plates. At the end of the day I dump the compost in the bin and refrigerate the chicken treats till morning. Every morning the girls get the bowl of leftovers. If there are not enough greens or veggies I pick them some of the bottom leaves from the garden chard or kale.

 

[zippitydooda]

Quote:
This is hilarious!!!! I loved the "who's next?" comment! ahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

It is amusing how they seem to know when I'm bringing them food, and how, no matter what I toss in they all RUN to inspect and/or steal it first!

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I don't separate my chicken treats and compost anymore. The chickens scour the compost heap and pick stuff out anyway,so I just throw it all in and what little they don't eat stays in the pile. I feed all the meat/gravy things to the dogs, but the chickens get everything else. They love most of it... even the things I would never guess they would want. Usually, the Big Chicken (my 92 lb dog) follows me out to the compost pile and scarfs down leftovers too so the birds have to be quick with the good stuff!

 

[woodmort]

Having chickens means never having to toss leftovers. Mine loved in when my grandkids were finicky eaters and would come to stay. We once had some ice cream that was in the freezer a little to long with the cover askew, they went nuts over that. While we don't give them watermelon--that's for us to eat--they get the rinds and eat them right down to the skin. Oh yeah, those crumbs in the bottom of the catfood bag that the cats won't eat--chickens love 'em.