The highest value treats?

We have St Patrick's Day parades here where cabbages are thrown, the whole head. They keep well and my hens like when I hang them from a rope off the ground so they have to play with the cabbage to get a good bite. Also love any thing red in color. We also do the old farm family thing, anything that may not be eatable for the family ( the important word is may, won't feedsomething I know is bad), the exception is milk, let it solidify and feed the curds. Any scrapes from dinner prep or leftover on a plate goes in the hen container for the next day. I have a neighbor who does the same for me. She is the first to get extra eggs. Also allow them in the kitchen garden after harvest and removing tomato plants, they free range the backyard everyday and occasionally front yard with supervision. Lots of protein, like lizards, frogs, worms, etc. We crush up egg shells real fine, and feed for calcium. Sure cuts down on how much feed we have to buy.
 
Canned dog food, kibbles cat or dog food, diced beef or pork liver, fresh (live) minnows, basically your chickens love to eat any member of the animal kingdom that doesn't eat your chickens first. One poster even pressure cooks the raccoons he traps and feeds the whole carcass to his birds. Seems like justice for all the chickens that raccoons kill.
 
MEAT! Make sure anything on it, spices, seasonings, is okay for them to have. Mine love steak, pork, chicken (COOKED), and any sausages. Watermelon is a good one, grapes, a whole salad that has been sitting in the fridge a little too long, not moldy or rotten though, blackberries, raspberries, grubs, worms, and yogurt (plain no sugar) is a great treat and helps re-establish good bacteria in their systems and keep them healthy. Oregano is good for them to promote respritory health. Feed it to them in scrambled egg. Oh, and forgot to mention, they love egg. Mine love it raw or cooked. To cook mine, i put an egg into some hot coals and after a bit i poke a stick into and make a hole so that it doesn't explode and then when it is ready i take it over. I wouldn't eat them this way, as they get sooty, but it is a fun way to cook eggs for chickens. I don't usually feed them good eggs raw, only if the shells are poopy, but occasionally i will give them a good one but only if they beg hard enough :)
Chicken? Did I read that right? How I have feared they might accidentally snatch a piece...:lau
 
My girls absolutely LOVE watermelon. They will also come running for greek yogurt mixed with some dry oats. (the oats help so its not so messy ;)) I've tried cabbage, and they aren't too fond of it... but I'm sure if i tied it up with some string, theyd find it more fun and maybe enjoy it a little more :)
 
I'm still experimenting with treats for my almost four month old troop here. Watermelon is a favorite for my ladies, as is yogurt, but if I really want to see them transform into tiny, stomping, backyard dinosaurs I break out the grapes. Mine LOVE grapes and do the funny "this is mine you can't have it" run and song whenever they get them. I also have dried mealworms on hand, but they seem lukewarm about those. They also don't seem to be nuts for scratch as much either, though a few appreciate it.

Otherwise kitchen scraps and any leafy greens that the humans haven't gotten to (and probably won't before they turn) go out into their run, which they enjoy tearing apart.

A few Cicadas have made the mistake of burrowing out of the ground into the coop, where the occasional lucky girl has claimed it as her Noms. There's a BIG song and dance anytime one of the ladies gets her beak on a bug or insect.
 
You feed your chicken chicken?
Can't that cause mad cow disease?
Or Crazy Chicken disease? Can you still eat their eggs? I got weirded out when I read they eat eggs, but I suppose I get it.
 

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