Snack ideas!

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I have never given my chickens meat, but i plan too. What meat would be the best for them?

The best meat to give them is whatever is left over or would otherwise go in the trash (unless it’s science experiment level gross, all fat, or salty).

In the last week or so, mine have gotten some freezer burned ground pork found in the back of the freezer, a chicken after we picked off what we wanted and then made broth, and a corner of cheeseburger our daughter didn’t eat.

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

I don't have chickens YET. (2 more months!) But I do have heritage turkeys. They LOVE banana the best. They also like apples, spinach, cabbage and LOVE broccoli. They won;t touch zucchini. They like the wheat in scratch but not the corn. They have NO use for the bagged "treats" with all kinds of different seeds, and dried fruit. I bought one bag. NEVER AGAIN. Waste of money for them. Since it is winter, and the grass is covered with snow, I also give them alfalfa hay They like that too.

 

[kdunham]

Is it just my chickens, or are all chickens not a fan of mint? I have tried to give them some because it is good for them, but after one peck, they leave it alone.

 

[ShrekDawg]

ALL of my chickens hate mealworms. Works for me; the price for a pound is crazy! Also not huge fans of iceberg lettuce.

They love sweet potatoes, scratch, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, parsley, basil, kale, corn, oats, flaxseed, hulled sunflower seeds. Their favorite treat is mashed hard boiled eggs

Mine absolutely hated the dried ones the one time I tried them but LOVED the live ones and super worms I grew one time so maybe yours might like live ones? Mine won’t even eat a freshly dead regular worm if it isn’t wiggling LOL

 

[kdunham]

Is it just my chickens, or are all chickens not a fan of mint? I have tried to give them some because it is good for them, but after one peck, they leave it alone.

Mine won’t eat mint. I tried giving it to them this summer as a treat, plain and frozen in ice cubes. They just wouldn’t eat it. I tried peppermint and sweet mint, both I grow myself.

 

[arwoon]

We had some cornmeal that got bugs in it, and I mixed it with water, spinach and rosemary and added sunflower seeds etc. Then I fried it up. It was like a crumble and my chickens LOVED it!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Is it just my chickens, or are all chickens not a fan of mint? I have tried to give them some because it is good for them, but after one peck, they leave it alone.

Mine eat it straight off the plant when they free range, but don’t care for it if I just throw it to them.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

My girls like:

• Scratch (I try my best to keep it minimal, but use it to bring them back from free ranging. I mix in some of their food too to lower the amount of scratch necessary.
• Meal Worms (Again, try to keep it minimal, but mix in a few in the “Come Back Inside From Free Ranging“ mixture.)
• Fresh fruit and veggies. I end up with a lot of extra fruits and veggies so will chop them up for the girls.
• Apples. We have tons of apple trees, and in the summer time are overrun with them. The aren’t sweet enough for eating, not even for apple sauce, pie, or juice. Most end up decomposing, but we do give lots to the chickens. We chop them up and de-core them. Most don’t care for them but I have a few girls who go crazy for them - unfortunately most of my apple eaters were cockerels so I don’t think they will be as big of a hit this year.
• Treat block. I bought one of those treat blocks from my local feed store, at first they didn’t care about it, but then once it rained it was devoured. They aren’t very good for the chooks (not that any of these other things are) so I’ve only ever given it once.
• Homemade treats. Earlier today I made a homemade treat for the girls, I gave them a chunk of it and they loved it. This will probably be an extremely rare occurrence - but we‘ve had tons of snow and they’ve been bored, I was bored, and it’s Valentine’s Day and of course my chickens are my Valentine! Recipe is by @SulkyBantam https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/seedy-bake-for-poultry-perfect-chicken-treat.76223/

Welp, sorry for the 500 page essay!

 

[Thunder344]

My girls like:

• Scratch (I try my best to keep it minimal, but use it to bring them back from free ranging. I mix in some of their food too to lower the amount of scratch necessary.
• Meal Worms (Again, try to keep it minimal, but mix in a few in the “Come Back Inside From Free Ranging“ mixture.)
• Fresh fruit and veggies. I end up with a lot of extra fruits and veggies so will chop them up for the girls.
• Apples. We have tons of apple trees, and in the summer time are overrun with them. The aren’t sweet enough for eating, not even for apple sauce, pie, or juice. Most end up decomposing, but we do give lots to the chickens. We chop them up and de-core them. Most don’t care for them but I have a few girls who go crazy for them - unfortunately most of my apple eaters were cockerels so I don’t think they will be as big of a hit this year.
• Treat block. I bought one of those treat blocks from my local feed store, at first they didn’t care about it, but then once it rained it was devoured. They aren’t very good for the chooks (not that any of these other things are) so I’ve only ever given it once.
• Homemade treats. Earlier today I made a homemade treat for the girls, I gave them a chunk of it and they loved it. This will probably be an extremely rare occurrence - but we‘ve had tons of snow and they’ve been bored, I was bored, and it’s Valentine’s Day and of course my chickens are my Valentine! Recipe is by @SulkyBantam https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/seedy-bake-for-poultry-perfect-chicken-treat.76223/

Welp, sorry for the 500 page essay!

no no, this is great!

 

[3KillerBs]

My "Other" is weeds.

They go nuts for any weeds I throw into the pen, but sourgrass, aka Wood Sorrel, is this flock's favorite while my in-town flock was crazy about Beggar Ticks.

Not sure but from what I’ve read on here, they’ll eat anything!!!!

Chickens eat anything that doesn't eat them first. Mine get turkey/chicken/duck carcasses after I've made stock and picked the meat out for us, roast bones, rib bones, freezer-burnt anything, and so on.