No taste for greens

[FlyingNunFarm]

Mine are no veggie eaters too! I have a laugh all the time at people on BYC saying how much their chickens just love greens. Mine are not having it. I was excited once I went out with spinach (I think) and they kept taking it and running off then coming back. Thought I had finally found a green leafy something they would eat! Then I found the pile of it they had hidden. They kept taking it and leaving it off in a corner of the run. Like kids hiding it in their napkins.

Anything with seeds mine love. Tomatoes, melons, apples, cucumbers.... The list goes on. I had some that would eat mint that grew right outside their run. But that's about as leafy and green mine will go.

Don't worry. You're not alone on the picky chicken front.

 

[m1chelle1]

Every flock seems to develop their own preference to what they will and won't eat. Mine like sweet things like strawberries, peaches, melons. But they also eat squash seeds and greens like kale, parsley, carrot tops, pea leaves. A huge favorite is the base off a head of cauliflower, leaves and stem, which they pick over for days until there's nothing left.

Agree with this one. I think it also depends on what they've been given at a young age. think some chickens will only go for some of the things theyre used to, and maybe they didn't get started young enough? Also, agree with the guy/gal who said that theyre getting what they need from the yard, so not to worry about it. Chickens are great at balancing their own diet so I don't think its too horrible if they wont eat greens

~M

 

[m1chelle1]

oh, was also going to say, the good news here is that you could prob just let them loose in your garden all you want! They wont destroy every last plant like mine would!

 

[PouleNoire]

Mine are pretty much pigs I have only found a few things they didn't like...which I can't recall, haha!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Agree with this one. I think it also depends on what they've been given at a young age. think some chickens will only go for some of the things theyre used to, and maybe they didn't get started young enough?

I didn't start giving mine veggies/fruit until they were... 10 weeks? 12 weeks? They absolutely did panic at the first sight of a vegetable though (clearly we're trying to poison them!) Now they run to the fence with their beaks open, hoping to get a cherry tomato or a pea to the face.

oh, was also going to say, the good news here is that you could prob just let them loose in your garden all you want! They wont destroy every last plant like mine would!

Mine destroy plants they don't like out of spite. "Oh, grow this cilantro/lettuce in our space will you?" RIP, TEAR, SPIT OUT. "Ha! Take that! Now grow more carrots!"

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

my button quail will not even TOUCH VEGGIES!!!!!!!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

They do rip apart my aviary plants for fun though... maybe i give them too many mealworms

 

[m1chelle1]

I didn't start giving mine veggies/fruit until they were... 10 weeks? 12 weeks? They absolutely did panic at the first sight of a vegetable though (clearly we're trying to poison them!) Now they run to the fence with their beaks open, hoping to get a cherry tomato or a pea to the face.


Mine destroy plants they don't like out of spite. "Oh, grow this cilantro/lettuce in our space will you?" RIP, TEAR, SPIT OUT. "Ha! Take that! Now grow more carrots!"

Hahah, mine are just fatties. They love those veggies and anything the color green, so they eat and destroy all green things without reservation. My dad once let them out when the garden was in full glory and it took him hours to round them up to get them out!! hahah!! I honestly think it would be nice to be able to let them around the garden if I had confidence they wouldn't eat it all. So I wasn't kidding about that being good news

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I tried getting some girls into an overgrown flower bed. I know not tasty plants but I thought lots of bugs and new scratching area. Nope-- you would have thought I locked them in prison camp. Wanted out of there and now.

 

[Hyper_Chicken05]

Oops lol, I forgot to check my byc and I come back to a load of reply’s lol.