Neighborhood people feeding my flock

[nothingbutabird]

We're very lucky to live in a community that is very chicken-friendly. We're in a semi-urban area, but live in a house with a large open backyard. The coop and run are in the backyard. We also have a bike path that runs along the back edge of the yard, and people from the neighborhood frequently walk through our yard to get to the bike path.

Normally, I'm fine with all of this, but for the last couple of days I've been finding scraps of food inside of the chicken run. We keep the run padlocked, but people seem to be pushing food through the holes in the chicken wire. I love that people care about our chickens and want to help feed them, but I really want to control (and at least know!) what my flock is eating. There are certain things that chickens can't eat, and I'm worried that our well-meaning neighborhood folks will feed them the wrong thing (like a bunch of orange and lemon slices, which I found in there this morning).

I put up a sign this morning, saying that I'm glad that they love our chickens as much as we do, but that we don't want people putting food inside the run. I hope this helps! It's been great having such support in the community for these new chickies, but I'm worried about keeping them healthy and properly fed.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Any tips?

 

[teach1rusl]

I remember a fellow BYCer going through a bit of this last summer with her neighbor, but at least it was just one neighbor doing it. Thankfully she knew them well enough to chat with them about chicken nutrition, and they were happy to cooperate.

I think a sign explaining the situation is a great idea, since it's multiple people doing it.

 

[Hamstery]

My in laws live downstairs from us and my mother in law wants to give them everything.....but at least she asks first.

I think the sign was a great idea and I hope people respect your wishes.