Things That Chicken Eat That Surprised You

[zzGypsy]

so after reading all of this, I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to have a compost heap again...
no? well, at least I'll have eggs.

 

[Mahonri]

Our chickens got the venison left overs today from Sunday dinner. They LOVED it. They love everything.

 

[Kansas Gal]

Just wondering -- how many hard-boiled eggs are 'too many' for my girls? Can there be too much of a good thing?? Thanks!

 

[jetskier506]

A dollar bill like it was lettuce. Thankfully nothing bigger

 

[grandmasgals]

during the cold winter months I string cabbages on a rope across the chicken run. Just high enough for them to have to jump up to reach it.
exercises them in the winter and keeps their feet from freezing.
They look like jumping beans. Very entertaining and they LOVE the cabbage!
Mine eat everything too. I just keep onions and coffee grounds out of their food. Not sure if onions are toxic to them. I know dogs can die from onions. Had one that almost died. Had a passion for lawn onions.

 

[instar8]

Quote:
About the only kitchen waste that goes in my compost is coffee grounds, eggshells, onion and potato peels and citrus rinds. I figure the chickens do a better job breaking veg scraps down and combining them with nitrogen, plus they eat all the stuff that's a no-no in compost piles, meat, etc., and give tastier eggs inreturn!

 

[Reyvaughn]

You know, whats even weirder than what my chickens have and will eat is what they won't eat.

My chickens hate cabbage and lettuce. They barely eat green beans, peas and carrots, too.

 

[Sonic Pug]

Not strange, but my EE's determination cracked me up... There was a caterpillar just a couple of inches outside the wire of the run. The EE checked on that caterpillar about a thousand times, going about her chicken business all day, while periodically checking to see if it was close enough to snatch. sure enough, the second the caterpillar became a millimeter within reach, SLURP! Every other chicken paid no mind to that bug, except Piccadilly, the nosey Easter Egger.

 

[toby1959]

Quote:
Mine dig the macaroni out of the slop bucket and eat it first. All varieties of chickens do this.

 

[jndorsey]

My garage door is usually open by about eight inches so the cats can come and go as they please and I don't need to tend to a litterbox. But when the birds are raning I have to keep the door SHUT. No sooner do you open the gate to the run when they make a beeline for the garage and start scarfing up the cat food. Ditto the dog food. One day last summer I opened the garage door only to find the dog (comletely deaf -- he was 14 years old -- may he rest in peace we've missed him every day for the last year) sound asleep on his bed with three chickens excitedly FEASTING on dog food not a foot away from him. Not to mention the fact that my husband HATES chicken poo in his immaculate garage, so that door is closed if the birds are out these days.

We've seen our girls gobble up snakes and HUGE (thumb-sized) grubs my husband found while helping someone cut down a dead tree, and my Fayoumi once spotted a dead mouse and took off like a bat out of hell to keep it from the other two -- running and gulping all the way across the back yard. They also feel the need to take a snip out of one of my many basil plants that have taken over the back patio (went to seed last fall, came up ALL OVER the place this spring -- plus I have some planted in planters too) every time they come across one and they LOVED my purple petunias this summer, picked them clean -- but completely ignored the pink and white ones! The best thing I've seen them eat? A katydid. Peck-bzzzz peck-buzzz peck-silence -- gulp. Apparently they are a huge treat! I only wish they'd eat ANTS but apparently they're too much work.

Wondering now -- will they eat those nasty tomato worms that get all over my plants by mid-summer? I didn't plant any this year because the worms gross me out so badly.