Size of Kitchen Scraps

[BlackGirlByTheSea]

I usually give our flock of four chickens produce scraps from our kitchen. I’m currently chopping collard greens to get a head start on Christmas dinner, and have been tediously trying to chop the stems into tiny pieces and I’m wondering if this is overkill.

My question is, is there a certain size the scraps need to be? I am concerned about them choking.

The leaves I just make sure they are around an inch or two since they’re soft and they usually just swallow them down. But the stems are kind of the texture of celery.

The pics are of the stems and ends and then how I’ve chopped them. Last time, I chopped them and froze most of it to give them here and there.

If I can just slice them like a half inch or so, that would be cool, instead of dicing them like I have been. Thanks in advance!

 

[BDutch]

If you give 2 bowls. 1 with fine chopped and one with bigger chunks, you know pretty quick what they prefer.

If they eat long fibers they need to have acces to coarse stones to mill the feed.

 

[BlackGirlByTheSea]

If you give 2 bowls. 1 with fine chopped and one with bigger chunks, you know pretty quick what they prefer.

If they eat long fibers they need to have acces to coarse stones to mill the feed.

Thank you!

 

[Lillith37]

You could leave the stems long, tie them together and string them up somewhere so the chickens can peck and break off the proper amount.

 

[NatJ]

My question is, is there a certain size the scraps need to be? I am concerned about them choking.

No, there is no certain size that scraps need to be.

Chickens are usually quite good at not choking. They swallow small pieces, rip up large pieces, and choose one or the other method for middle-sized pieces.

But the stems are kind of the texture of celery.

I have thrown entire sticks of celery to chickens, with no problems.
Some people give entire heads of cabbage or kale or lettuce and let the chickens rip it up for themselves.

If I can just slice them like a half inch or so, that would be cool, instead of dicing them like I have been.

Personally, I would skip all the dicing and chopping, and just throw them to the chickens at whatever size they happen to be. (That doesn't mean you have to, just that it would be my choice if I were in that situation.)

Or if you really want to make the pieces small, do you have a shredder/grinder/food processor that can make it go faster?

 

[BlackGirlByTheSea]

You could leave the stems long, tie them together and string them up somewhere so the chickens can peck and break off the proper amount.

Oooh! Good idea. Thank you!

 

[BlackGirlByTheSea]

No, there is no certain size that scraps need to be.

Chickens are usually quite good at not choking. They swallow small pieces, rip up large pieces, and choose one or the other method for middle-sized pieces.


I have thrown entire sticks of celery to chickens, with no problems.
Some people give entire heads of cabbage or kale or lettuce and let the chickens rip it up for themselves.



Personally, I would skip all the dicing and chopping, and just throw them to the chickens at whatever size they happen to be. (That doesn't mean you have to, just that it would be my choice if I were in that situation.)

Or if you really want to make the pieces small, do you have a shredder/grinder/food processor that can make it go faster?

Thank you for these ideas and the info. I would definitely prefer skipping more prep than I already have to do for dinner!

The first time I did it, I used my blender and it ended up more like a puree. But the fact that leaving them whole is okay, gives me peace of mind. Thanks again!

 

[rosemarythyme]

You're better off NOT cutting up scraps. Let the chickens tear off what they can eat. That said, stems aren't usually eaten by chickens, too tough and fibrous. Stems go straight into compost, or if I toss in whole leaves I just leave the stems behind in the run to decompose after they eat the leafy parts.