I bought dry roasted plain peanuts in the shell I have been de shelling them to give to them. Can they eat the shells?
Probably wouldn't hurt them, but I don't know why they would want to eat them. If you want to throw the peanuts out without shelling them, you could try it. I suggest something different for chicken treats, though.
My girls love the peanuts. Just takes time to shell them. So maybe it will give them something to do. They are in a pen all day. They do not like cabbage to much other wise I would hang one just to see if they would eat it. Thanks for the quick response.
My girls don't eat the shells. I don't give them peanuts on purpose but I've seen them find the ones hidden by the scrub jays. (I do feed peanuts in the shells to the scrub jays, who hide them in the mulch where the chickens like to scratch.) They (the chickens) seem to have a good time slamming the peanuts into the ground until they break the shells and get to the nuts inside, which then take several pecks to eat. Yeah, you could make it easier for them, but as you said, it gives them something to do.
Mine will eat the peanut shells that the Squirrels and Stellar Jays drop. They also will break open peanuts and eat the nut and shell. I buy the raw peanuts from the feedstore. I don't think that the shells have much in the way of nutrition to them. Imp btw- Not a dumb question.
