Red Cabbage

[Akane]

Supposedly the colored cabbage will make blue-green poo but mine wouldn't eat enough to test it.

It is warned with mammals not to feed cruciferous vegetables because of the gas and digestive upset but it seems no one's chickens suffer. It's a common way to entertain them in winter.

 

[RuffledFeathers]

My flock gets cabbage daily- I cut up about 1/4 head per day for 18 chickens along with other greens. They suffer no ill effects and are quite healthy. Yes the red cabbage will turn the poo turquoise. It is weird, but just a natural process.

 

[Whisper]

It's funny, there's only one thing left in my garden that the chickens DIDN'T demolish, and it's the purple cabbage. It's still completely untouched. They gnawed the parsley down, though!

 

[MowNGrow]

We want to give our girls purple cabage just to see their pooh! LOL. Having never fed table scraps or anything other than the grass my girls pen is over. Our pen is movable on wheels so every 4 days or so I move the pen to a new part of the lawn for them to "fertalise". Our vegie garden is getting a good go over prior to re planting it in March.

Novice to feeding other than lay mash, what age can you feed them vegies etc from?

 

[Doopy]

About a million years ago when I was a kid growing up on a little farm my mom had the healthiest chickens in Indiana. I remember that she always had a special wooden bucket with her when she worked in her big vegetable garden and filled the bucket with all sorts of cuttings, veggies, fruit, greens, worms, bugs and just about anything else she could gather from the garden. As she walked past the chicken run she would always toss the contents onto the ground in the run. I can remember seeing big chunks of RED CABBAGE in the piles. If memory serves me right the chickens never left a scrap of anything. There would always be a dozen, or so, little tiny chicks digging through the remains.

She was also a very prolific baker of breads, pies, cookies, and cakes. All of the waste from her kitchen went into the run also.

 

[hen-thusiast]

Quote:
Ditto on that. I was alarmed the first time until I figured out what it was.

 

[Koolduck]

My guys won't eat cabbage if you paid them! Which is OK 'cause there is more for me to make German red cabbage with!!!!Aside from Oatmeal, my chooks won't eat what everyone elses will eat. There is one thing that they love more than anything though....MICE! Guess mine are more carniverous than omnivorous! Stay Warm!

 

[LynneP]

I feed a little green cabbage daily in winter for the plant enzymes. The hens love it and are not gassy. I shred it though, because I don;t like to have string or any other swallowable or odd bits in the coop what might cause accidents...

 

[ronkonkoma]

They'll love cabbage. Be forewarned- I think purple cabbage will change their poop to neon blue or some color. It's normal but scary if you are not expecting it.

Imp

I am so glad this has been mentioned! I just gave them some red cabbage and their poo is a gorgeous blue!!!! . Wanted to make sure that is what it is from lol