Is There To Much of a Good Thing.....

[SteveBaz]

My Girls love rice. I do feed them through the week a variety of scraps which includes fruits,. apple sauce, yogurt, peach fruit, corn, grapes, oatmeal and scratch.

It seems like I have gotten onto Minute Rice 1/2 cup in the mornings and they down it.

Is this getting out of hand or would you back off of the rice?

What do you folks do thats to much of a good thing for you flock?

Any habits you had to break off because it started a bad habit or gone down the wrong road with food?

Steve

 

[Stacykins]

Well white rice, especially minute/quick cook rice isn't exactly healthy. All carbs with no other vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. to add to make it healthy. I bet they enjoy the treat a lot, though. I know mine LOVE rice, but I don't cook it too often.

 

[dianaross77]

I wouldn't give them white rice everyday. Maybe once or twice a week. The thing you have to worry about with low protein treats is that too much will cause a drop in egg production.

 

[Beekissed]

It's best if you stick with basic chicken foods and food scraps. This notion of giving chickens "treats" is something of which I'd never even heard until joining this forum. Chickens don't need treats and like every other animal/human on the planet, too much of one type of food isn't ideal for longterm health. Intentionally preparing/cooking or buying special foods or treats for chickens is just for your own benefit, as their regular diet~particularly if they free range~is sufficient for good nutrition.

 

[donrae]

How big is your flock? If it's half a cup (is that dry or cooked?) for four hens, it's probably too much too often. If it's for twenty or so, it shouldn't have such a nutritional impact.

 

[mercedes]

I cook a pot of white,long grain rice for my girls almost every day and mix it with a coffee can of layer pellets that has been soaked in water to make a soupy mash.They love it of course

I feel it has given them the extra food and water intake to make it through this ridiculously insane heat we had this year.I had no losses and the egg production has been good(average10- 12 eggs out of 14 hens per day). I agree that to many treats are not a good idea but don't consider this a treat.Do whatever works for you.

 

[Judy]

I agree, a lot of people let treats get out of hand. It's fun and teaches them to come to you, I know. A rule of thumb sometimes given here is that treats should not exceed 10% of their diet. Actually I think that's a little high. Feed is minimal in protein already, and few treats have even that high of a percent of protein. Besides reducing laying, I don't think it makes for healthy chickens. Actually, one cause of feather picking, severe pecking and even cannibalism is too little protein in the diet.

You could start by reducing the amount of any treat at first, to accustom them to the change. I would work my way down to a small amount. Unless you can get an unusually high quality of scratch, I'd probably cut it out entirely.

I have at present 17 chickens. I do give them some sort of treat once a day, on most days. If I gave them the couple of handfuls of scratch which would be enough for them, the bag would get old way before I got to the bottom. Usually, the only treat I buy is BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) and it takes me a couple of months to go through a bag, which I think is 10 lbs. I rarely have table scraps that I give them (leftovers, fruit or veggie trimmings, etc.) but if I had a bunch, if I cooked for a large family, I probably wouldn't buy the BOSS, either. If I have too many eggs I will scramble a plateful, 8 or 10, for them. Once in a while I give them a can of canned mackerel. If something gets freezer burned, I will give that.

Not that I do it perfectly, by any means. Just to give you an idea of what someone who's read an awful lot of posts here does.

 

[southerndesert]

Quote:
A BIG X-2

 

[southerndesert]

Quote:
Another BIG X-2 I really didn't know how many chickens were actually kept as pets until joining this forum and how pampered they could be. Not condemning it and to each their own, but round here they is livestock and get chicken feed with occasional scraps or "treats"

 

[GoldDogsMom]

I don't "treat" my girls, but they get fresh fruit/veggies scraps pretty much everyday. Rice, bread even fresh corn doesn't have much nutritional value. Grapes are a favorite and they "think" it's a treat!