Is there anything your are NOT supposed to feed to your chickens?

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SuzieNJAZ

SuzieNJAZ

Hatching
6 Years
Apr 22, 2013
7
0
7
AZ desert
Hi Guys,
I have 3 RIR's that just started laying this week. I had an interesting journey to get them to this point, as I was sold the wrong feed (scratch) at the hardware store, but didn't have the money to go buy the right feed (grower). My chicken friend across town fussed at me already...and I deserved that. My girls grew up and started laying based upon scratch feed, and table scraps, and once they discovered my garden, the voracious eaters demolished that and took care of the compost heap as well. I have no grass in my back yard because we live in the desert and it was landscaped with multi colored rocks including pea gravel. So, when the dandelions and other weeds came up after a nice rain event, I left them for the girls to eat. I also have a bale of hay (bermuda grass) that they love to munch on.

This weekend we had two dinner parties and I gave them all the scraps. I tried not to allow meat to go into the scaps even though I think some may have been put in. I fed all of this to them last night. This morning one of them has the runs pretty bad. I ran off to a different feed store where the guys said things like 'never feed them cooked rice, never feed them popcorn, never feed them garlic bread' Okay, guilty - all of the above was part of their diet last week - along with a lot of salad scraps. (I fed 30 people at my house this weekend.) My chickens LOVE it all!

I put them on Layer as of today with oyster shell as directed by the guys. Any other suggestions?
 
Hello from Oregon & welcome to BYC
jumpy.gif


A basic list of food not to give :

avocado
citrus fruits
rhubarb leaves
chocolate/caffeine
apple seeds
onions
garlic
mushrooms
alcohol
potato, eggplant, and tomato plants/leaves
salt
mistletoe or holly berries
raw beans
nutmeg
sweet pea plant
tobacco
stone fruit pits
asparagus

You can prob find a more detailed list in the learning center tab above.
 
Hi from Oregon. This is going to be an interesting site I am glad I discovered it. Where are you located? I am near Boise Id. The Snake river is the border Nyssa is on the Oregon side. What breed of chicks do you have?
 
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You should also avoid highly salted scraps, and sugary - they can eat Kale, lettuce, cabbage, -actually chickens are omnivores and eat meat scraps, pork, turkey and sometimes their siblings and relatives. They tend to like plain, unsweetened yoqurt, , mashed hard boiled eggs, sliced grapes, watermelon, black oil sunflower seeds, pumpkin , meal worms, any mice and snakes they can gobble up as well. Dogs tend to like chicken droppings and chicken like to return the favor -
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. Too many treats tho and they are apt to turn their nose up at feed they should be eating.
 
chrisphariss said:
Hi from Oregon. This is going to be an interesting site I am glad I discovered it. Where are you located? I am near Boise Id. The Snake river is the border Nyssa is on the Oregon side. What breed of chicks do you have?
Click to expand...
This is a very interesting site. Lots of great info & people. Im located in the Eugene / Springfield area about 1 1/2 hours south of Portland. Used to have family in Idiaho - spent many summers there on a huge Potato Farm. I have White leg horns, Golden sexlink, Black copper maran, Barred rock, Buff orph . Do you have chickens or just getting started?
 
Thanks so much.
Especially for the list. I refer to it often, as I put it up in the inside of my kitchen cabinet for when I'm preparing food. There's always a designated "chicken bowl" now I know what NOT to put in it.

Thanks,
Suzie
 

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