Scraps...what is good and bad for chickens???

[Floppy Pheasant]

We all know chickens love to eat...practically anything...what "scraps " are good and what ones are bad??

 

[cavemanrich]

Don't give your chickens things that contain lot of sugar like cake, and candy sweets. Some leftover coffee cake is fine.
Avoid giving things with large amounts of salt. Some leftover mashed potatoes that you did add salt to for your normal consumption is fine.
I give mine all leftover veggies that are cooked or raw.
When I trim meat so it is lean for our consumption, I cook up the scraps and do give to chickens.
Don't give your chickens food that is spoiled.
WISHING YOU BEST. ........................

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

Thanks cavemanrich...I've heard starch is bad is for chickens...what about bread?

 

[cavemanrich]

Don't know of starch as being bad
I do give my chickens bread, but not exclusively, but as a treat. The drawback with giving too much bread is it dilutes their diet of the needed protein. Same goes for the scratch, which they .
Even though I do not follow the FEDERATIONS RULES, my chickens do live loooooong lives. My longest went 13 years. My latest long lived went 11years. She could have gone more , if predator did not interfere.
Feeding the ideal protein amount will give you very good egg production levels. Less than a SCIENCE DIET, and your egg production will be less than maximum.
I only keep my chickens as pets, and do get enough eggs for our use. I don't eat my chickens, but do eat from the store.

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

I only keep my chickens as pets as well....though I'm showing a couple of my Brahma's this year...my sexlinks I have are great layers,they eat everything, I'm trying to give my "show prospects" healthy scraps...in addition to high quality feed and free ranging.
It's not easy keeping my show birds away from the "snacks " lol

 

[JedJackson]

There are certain things that are said to be bad for chickens and shouldn't be given. I'll list what I can remember.

Avocado skins. I personally avoid giving them avocados altogether.
Citrus fruit.
Uncooked potatoes.
Potato peels of any kind.
Uncooked beans.
Coffee or coffee grounds.
Rhubarb leaves. A little bit of the chopped stem should be okay, but the leaves are poisonous.

You also want to watch that yard trimmings you might want to give them don't contain poisonous plants. It's best to make sure you know exactly what you have, and do a little research, before throwing any trimmings in their pen.

 

[Le Moth]

My ducks enjoy being spoon fed Weetbix in the mornings, when I'm having my breakfast. I use soy milk, so I figured it was okay.
Is that alright for them?

Other than that, we are a family of 6, so there are plenty of fruit scraps for me to nick and hand out to the birds c:

 

[JedJackson]

My ducks enjoy being spoon fed Weetbix in the mornings, when I'm having my breakfast. I use soy milk, so I figured it was okay.
Is that alright for them?

Other than that, we are a family of 6, so there are plenty of fruit scraps for me to nick and hand out to the birds c:

Soy is not good for them. It can cause vitamin deficiencies because it has enzymes that prevent vitamin absorption.

If you are interested in knowing more, visit this page: https://www.wellfedhome.com/should-chickens-eat-soy

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

I do give my chickens frozen watermelon chunks in the summer,especially on hot,humid days....what fruits are not good?

 

[JedJackson]

I do give my chickens frozen watermelon chunks in the summer,especially on hot,humid days....what fruits are not good?

Anything in the melon family is excellent for chickens, including the seeds. Citrus fruits are bad for them, though. You'd probably want to limit blueberries and cranberries to just a little bit. Otherwise, I can't think of anything. Except it's best to not give them apple seeds-- the fruit is just fine, though.