TABLE SCRAPS

[LOMAX FARMS]

IS IT SAFE FOR A CHICKEN TO LEFT OVER FOOD AND VEGGIES FROM THE HOUSE.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

YES!

Should avoid salty items. I never give mine anything that we feel would make us sick, ie. moldy, rotten, etc etc. But left overs from the dinner table for the most part are OK. I got a turkey carcass from the neighbors and threw it in the run, they picked it clean. The only problem was I didnt' tell the wife I was doing it and when she saw it she thought one of our hens and died and been eaten by the others, LOL!

 

[ringmasternj]

So meat is OK? I have always avoided giving meat to my hens and that was the proper way (Save for broth based items like left over stuffing or w/e). Is it advisable, ie: any benefit to it? My ladies typically get bread I break up for em, and veggies.

 

[Den in Penn]

Chickens are, if you have heard already, omnivores, like us humans. So meat is part of their natural diet.

 

[ringmasternj]

Oh duh me, insects and worms.... lol Good to know. Though it is hard to have left over meat in this house with three carniverous kids and two meat eating parents!

 

[cinch920]

Yes! Chickens love all sorts of different food! Lettuce is always a hit as well of any type of meat. Always make sure you have an actual chicken feed available to them at free choice, but table scraps are always a welcomed treat to many chickens. Mine know that the white bucket that I use for my scraps means some yummy treats and they all come running ready for me to toss them some goodies!

 

[LOMAX FARMS]

THNAKS EVERYBODY,A GUY SAID ONE THING NOT TO GIVE THEM IS RAW POTATOES.

 

[farmgirl02]

Yes, it is perfectly fine to give chickens table scraps--just make sure you know if it is okay for them to eat, before they gobble it all up. They cannot digest raw potatoes. Greens and lettuce are good, and so are nuts and raisins.

 

[kpgoldstar]

No potatoes at all. A slightly unripe potato has a potentially dangerous poison. Better to avoid any peels no matter the variety or confidence it was ripe enough. Nothing moldy or rotten that you wouldn't eat yourself. Avocados also a no-no along with trimmings from any plant from the nightshade family (tomato, peppers, potato, eggplant).
I usually only feed trimmings from food prep from my kitchen. Carrot, squash peelings, mushroom stems, celery, lettuce. I use a ton of onions in my cooking but I limit those to the hens and put them in the compost bin instead. I heard onion can affect egg taste. My girls won't eat tomato scraps, but will fly into my garden and mow on my beet greens ARGH!!!

 

[donrae]

Everything from my kitchen scrap goes to the chickens. Huge amounts of tomato and pepper scraps during salsa canning season, no problems. Tossed a whole,raw, kinda mushy baker potato in there 2 days ago--it's gone. Meat--leftover cooked, or raw trimmings/fat--all goes to the chickens unless the dog gets it first. Fridge cleanings, even funky looking/smelling stuff--goes to the chickens. Saying they can't eat things humans can't eat is false--their digestive system is not the same as ours and they can tolerate things that would make us sick.

My flock doesn't eat peels of onion, citrus, banana or avocado. They gulped down some goat kidneys yesterday--that was a huge game of chicken keep-away!