Table food to chickens???

[Half-a-dozen]

Hello everyone again.
Our chicks are 4 weeks old are they allowed to have some table scraps at this age?
Also what are some foods chickens should never eat?
Thanks

 

[Southern28Chick]

I give my chicks hard boiled egg yolks and some bread. Mine are 4 weeks old. I haven't tried anything else yet. They just moved outside and are eating grass and bugs so I make sure they get grit.

I read today on this site that potato skins may have harmful toxins. I've also heard you need to watch the sodium/salt that the treats contain.

 

[jmantoo1]

i agree with Southern28Chick no potato skins and no salty foods you can make them regular oatmeal for a treat and they will think they are in heaven i treat mine with oatmeal and eggs that are extra

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I just found a new goody for my girls. It's called BugFest. I got it at Lowe's in the bird seed section. It's got wheat, cracked corn, milo, millet and get this, freeze dried meal worms!!

They went nuts for it. I just give them a little bitty handful tossed onto the ground for them to scratch around in during the day.

 

[Judymae]

I have always given my chickies table scraps. Anything from the kitchen that is fresh. Like tomato tops and carrot peels. They love it. If I don't chop it up one will always grab the largest piece and run like the dickens. So much entertainment!

 

[allen wranch]

Are your chicks outside ? If not, you need to add some grit to their diet to help grind up the treats. If outside, they will get plenty of grit digging around in the dirt.

Go easy on the grains and let your handful be pretty small.

I need to go look for some Bugfest ! That sounds like a great idea.

 

[BigMama]

Yesterday I made a fresh fruit salad and took watermelon rinds out to the girls and today it is picked clean

, the strawberry and kiwi scraps also disappeared.

Today I cut up some celery to put in my tuna salad and fed the celery scraps to the girls, boy did they love that. I also give packaged grit free choice, but that ran out today. I think we will put some fine sand in the run for them.

I also took egg shells from last nite's scrambled eggs out to the run and they are disappearing. Does anyone know if this is a source of grit or calcium for them?

Thanks in advance,
Melanie

 

[BirdBrain]

The egg shells are a source of calcium.

 

[dreamgirl]

The egg shells are a source of calcium, but I'm pretty sure I read (in Story's maybe?) that too much extra calcium when they are little can cause bone deformitites.

Another no-no food is avacados. And I believe onions aren't too good either.

We had some left over corn on the cob and my babies are going wild over that. Its so cute watching them try to get the kernals off:cd

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

We try to hold the scraps down, it tends to make the poo really stinky. But we do give bread scraps and corn on the cob when its left over.