Question about things they CANNOT eat

[Melky]

Thank you all for the feedback! Besides their feed and water, I have oyster shells out for them, but not grit. They have been wandering around the yard and spending a lot of time under a tree dust bathing. Will they eat dirt if they feel the need or do I need to put out grit specifically for them to eat?

They need chic grit separately at 3 weeks of age and switch to poultry grit which is larger at 8 weeks of age for life. I would not assume they are finding enough grit in the natural environment. They need grit to digest food properly. That said poultry grit can be offered free choice in separate container or mix 1lb. For every 40 lbs. of feed. I did free choice and now mix in feed for right ratio and to reduce waste.

 

[mixedbreeds]

As said above yes on the grit they need it if eating anything other than there chicken feed. They love pumpkin and Halloween is coming up they will go nuts over it once they figure out it’s not evil and going to kill them.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Don't feed your chickens anything from the Nightshade family so potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers as they carry a toxin that can kill. Avocadoes are really bad for them. You can feed them asparagus but it does make the taste of the eggs different so your call on that. Onions and rhubarb are a no no. Jalapenos are fine as they aren't affected by the spice.

 

[JDN]

Thank you all for the feedback! Besides their feed and water, I have oyster shells out for them, but not grit. They have been wandering around the yard and spending a lot of time under a tree dust bathing. Will they eat dirt if they feel the need or do I need to put out grit specifically for them to eat?

As said above yes on the grit they need it if eating anything other than there chicken feed. They love pumpkin and Halloween is coming up they will go nuts over it once they figure out it’s not evil and going to kill them.

If they have ample access to the natural outside ground, they'll get their own grit. I guess the exception would be if one lived somewhere without much rock of any sort available on the ground?

I've never heard of a chicken poisoning itself by eating things on the "open range."

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

You my friend need a goat! (Or a pig) They will eat more food scraps that chickens ever will. And just three chickens?! I think that you will find that they won’t want much to do with all those scraps!

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Good luck to you! I have a few Red Sex Links and they are the sweetest. Also, once they start to lay eggs, pretty please give them an extra source of calcium (chrushed oyster shells, egg shell, etc.) They quite often fun into problems once they start to lay eggs.

 

[Barry42001]

I find chickens to be just like little velociraptors they will eat anything that walks slides floats and Glides and many things that don't. If you throw it on the ground if you place it on the ground if you fall on the ground they will come Galloping at that you if you survive is because you were able to run fast enough LOL no all kidding aside everything else I've said so far is true aside from the fact that you fell on the ground. I have found nothing that chickens will not have a go at I put carrot circles where I cut them in the chunks and not small ones and they work on them into much smaller pieces but they do work them in fact when I was butchering those nasty roosters I had a group of hens run up 1 grab the rooster's head and took off with it followed by a swarm of other hens. Now what should they be eating that's another story but the yard was rich with those little Asian cockroaches which they ate with a passion wasn't a whole hell of a lot of grass left LOL and we did keep them out of the garden because we actually decided we would want to eat some of the vegetables they did get vegetable scraps providing it wasn't too tough like was stated earlier mostly what they ate was grain and whatever else they could find to supplement it

 

[Starwise]

I find chickens to be just like little velociraptors they will eat anything...

The total lack of punctuation's made my head hurt so bad. And I heard ALL of my English teachers screaming and there was red markers all over that post.

 

[Starwise]

Don't feed your chickens anything from the Nightshade family so potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers as they carry a toxin that can kill. Avocadoes are really bad for them.

This means the plant, not the tuber/fruit. Our chickens scarf down a chopped tomato with nothing but short of a fight over it. As you shouldn't eat the potato plant or the fruits that some of the species have after flowers, chickens shouldn't either. In fact, you should peel off any green parts off the tubers as they got exposed to sun during growing and developed solanine on that part. I've fed some cooked potato peels and mashed up potato among other veggies and they gladly eat it all.
Curiously our girls that have managed to break into the garden have not pecked at the tomato plants but they did uproot quite a few young carrots. Last summer they started to peck on some potato leaves and I had to fence those off. They love to get into the bed of strawberries and pick out all the ripe ones.

 

[New2Chicks97]

My girls have access to a mixed feed of flock raiser and layer all day as well as oyster shell. My big group of 16 girls get a cup of scratch grains in the morning, some of which I sprinkle on their feed. In the afternoons after they have laid their eggs, they get free range time. They eat any bug that moves, plants, veggies in our garden and who knows what else. When they come back from free ranging in the early evening, I give them another cup of scratch grains and some veggies from the garden. The big girls love tomatoes especially the cherry tomatoes (yes I chop them or sometimes just pull them apart). The little ones love zucchini especially the seeds.

None of mine like herbs overly much. The one time I tried feeding mint it was cause for lots of rubbing their beaks in the ground in a “YUCK! I hate it” move. LOL!

I think it is important to remember that you ultimately want to eat their eggs. So whatever you give them to put into their bodies is going to impact those eggs. The healthier the food you feed them the healthier they will be, which means better eggs.