kitchen scraps

[reeock]

what kitchen scraps should and shouldn't I give my girls?

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

Chickens love just about everything. There are some lists out there of things that are poisonous and should be avoided, but most food that we eat, they can eat too. I've got to say - my hens are the cutest garbage disposals I've ever had!

Do make sure you offer them plenty of layer rations and have oyster shell or other calcium source available if they want it.

 

[RocketDad]

Too much starch is cuts back on protein consumption. Onions will give eggs an "odd" flavor, that I've heard works fine if you're making breakfast but not for making a cake. I had a chicken get sick by eating too much of an avocado (she's fine, $80 later...). Too much sugar is not good for them. Raw potato peels might contain solanine (sp?) and make them sick.

I give mine pretty much anything that isn't rotted. I put onion and spud trimming in the compost, same for asparagus stumps. They like the leftovers of what my kids don't eat - partial oatmeals, bits of omelet, butter sandwich or peanut butter sandwich edges. I also give them cooked meat trimmings and gristle, and sometimes let them pick bones clean.

 

[2xchickenfarm]

Hi: This is my second time around with chickens. Had something get into the chicken house 5 years ago and everyone of them. We just got 12 pullets 2 weeks ago. I wanted to mention when someone said about raw potato peels. Actually if you boil them, they love them. My husband grandmother use to give to her chickens. I never had any problems with giving them boil potato peels. Also, I use to give them the strawberry tops when I would clean the strawberry, and basically any vegetable peels, carrots, etc.

 

[lizzy06019]

I love this link.... http://caloriecount.about.com/salmon-patties-recipe-r66528

Our chicks love just about anything. They definitely have a preference to meal worms though. Since getting our chicks, we haven't thrown out a single scrap piece of food! We love it but I'm sure they're loving it more!!!!

 

[BC_Farms]

Lately I've been weeding the yard and giving them the dandelions! They went NUTS over them!

 

[linmar]

Our chix eat everything except bean soup.

They love left-over noodles and rice and also shrimp shells and tails. They had some hesitation with bits of salmon steak last week, and I wonder whether it was just too oily. They are crazy for any greens. I avoid giving them citrus. When peach season happens, they are over the top for skins and bruised parts. Their love of grapes has made me resolve to try to harvest some of my grape crop which has for the last 9 years been totally consumed by blackbirds and squirrels before it matures.

Having them has made a big difference in the way we handle kitchen scraps. We are very conscious of what they may be able to eat and separate that out from other stuff (coffee grounds, onion skins). It has made us more mindful of our impact on our home, yard, and world. We eat only organic because (in part) we know that the scraps we give them will end up inside us. And we have decided not to use manufactured fertilizer or pesticides because we know that stuff might also end up in our bodies.

Whatever extra trouble we go do for our chix is amply repaid in the mindfulness they have caused us to have.

Lin & Carissa

 

[gritsar]

I avoid giving my chickens anything with alot of salt. Other than that, they get it all.