Sunflower seeds

[teanelly]

Can chickens eat wild bird seed. Like, sunflower in the shell? And is so, do the eat the whole thing or will the take it out of the shell? Just curious..

 

[Judy]

Yes. They especially love black oil sunflower seeds, which they can shell for themselves just fine. It may take a few tries for them to get used to this scary new thing, though, haha!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They eat the whole thing, at least all the chickens I've seen do.

Sunflower seed is very nutritious. Lots of vitamins. With the hull on it is about 12% protein, Hulled it is about 18% protein.

 

[collingwood]

Of course they can

!

 

[N F C]

Our girls LOVE sunflower seeds! They are a good healthy treat, full of protein. Our girls eat the entire thing, shell & all.

If you would like to know what other things are good treats for your birds, check out this chart:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

Sometimes you'll see a reference to BOSS in a post, that stands for black oil sunflower seed.

 

[centrarchid]

I like the how the shell of sunflower seeds (BOSS) affects the feces of birds otherwise fed chicken feed. When diet is about 10% BOSS the turds become easier to clean up.

 

[teanelly]

Awesome!! Thanks everyone!

 

[Junediamond]

Can my 8-9 week old chicks eat in-she'll sunflower seeds.