Too many veggies?

[IdyllwildAcres]

I talked to the produce guy at the local market and he said I could come by everyday if I want and get a box of trimmings, mostly the stuff they trim off to make the veggies pretty, yesterdays box had some ears of corn and broccoli. I have picked up two boxes so far, yesterday it must have weighed 40 pounds. I dump it in the coop/run deep litter over dirt and in two days you can barely see anything left. This is my first year with chickens, my flock of 7 is 10-11 weeks old now. The deep litter until now has been wood chips, pine flakes and timothy hay. It has been getting hot and the litter needs moisture and more greens to compost but I am worried that maybe 75-100 pounds of veggies a week too much? Now realize its a lot of water weight and presumably its getting turned into the litter so they are not eating all of it. Next week we are having a heatwave, two days it will hit 100 which is hot in the mountains and I was thinking a nice cold box of veggies would go over really well. Is there such thing as too many veggies? They do have grit and starting next week will be having a big chicken yard to get even more if they want it.

Thanks

Gary

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Too many of certain veggies can be bad, keep in mind unless your hens don't have free ranging time they shouldn't have more than 10% of treats in their diet. Now if they don't get to free range in grass where they'll get protein and vitamins from grass and bugs a little more probably won't hurt. Now that being said is it possible that you could give them the clipping more like 1-2 times a week?

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Too many of certain veggies can be bad, keep in mind unless your hens don't have free ranging time they shouldn't have more than 10% of treats in their diet. Now if they don't get to free range in grass where they'll get protein and vitamins from grass and bugs a little more probably won't hurt. Now that being said is it possible that you could give them the clipping more like 1-2 times a week?

So veggies are a treat?
They are not going out of coop yet and when they doo yhere will be no grass.

Gary

 

[Lamaremybabies]

So veggies are a treat?
They are not going out of coop yet and when they doo yhere will be no grass.

Gary

Yes, basically anything other than their main feed and grass are treats. Too many treats can cause your birds to become constipated and eventually over weight. It's like with people, too much of something isn't good for you.

 

[GC-Raptor]

The only fresh veggies my girls get are when I let them out to free range, 2 hours before sunset, weather permitting. I live in CT and in spring, summer, and autumn they have grass, clover, dandelion, and various other greens as well as insects to eat. No kitchen or table scraps for my girls.
Table scraps may be loaded with salt and sugar, and oils/fats, as in barbecue sauce, ketchup, salad dressing, cooking oils.
I have little to no kitchen scraps. I don't peel my veggies, and I would not give my girls wilted or old greens, that I wouldn't eat, either.
That's my way, yours will differ. GC

 

[Lamaremybabies]

The only fresh veggies my girls get are when I let them out to free range, 2 hours before sunset, weather permitting. I live in CT and in spring, summer, and autumn they have grass, clover, dandelion, and various other greens as well as insects to eat. No kitchen or table scraps for my girls.
Table scraps may be loaded with salt and sugar, and oils/fats, as in barbecue sauce, ketchup, salad dressing, cooking oils.
I have little to no kitchen scraps. I don't peel my veggies, and I would not give my girls wilted or old greens, that I wouldn't eat, either.
That's my way, yours will differ. GC

I'm in CT as well, I do like to give my girls (and boy) water melon rinds and the ends from lettuce.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Yeah I eat watermelon a couple of times a year and as for salad, I buy bagged. GC

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Yeah I eat watermelon a couple of times a year and as for salad, I buy bagged. GC

Ah.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a different take on the free produce: I think that if I were so blessed, this is what I'd do: I would also scrounge up a source of free hay. The important thing with hay is that it must not be treated with any of the newer herbicides on the market. They have a very long half life, and when a field has been sprayed with them, the hay is harvested, and even after passing through a cow, or being composted, the toxins persist, so if used on your garden, can poison it so nothing will grow there for years. Any how... I'd source as much free high carbon material as I could get my hands on. (hay, wood chips, woody garden debris, leaves, cardboard) Give veggies to the flock, and compost the rest. You may also be in a climate where you could keep a black soldier fly larvae collection system going. Dump in the veggies, the larvae will self harvest into a collection container, or straight into the chicken run.

 

[jennyf]

I'm curious about this! 100 lbs/week for 7 chickens seems like a lot. I don't consider veggies treats, and one of the things I like most about keeping chickens is that they help reduce our family's food waste, but I'm wondering if given that much access to them, they'll pig out on those and never eat their regular food. Might work for you, but you might see reduced egglaying. On the other hand, of those 40 pounds that go in, most might be worm/bug food by a few days later, which only benefits everyone! Perhaps you could give it a shot and if you end up with a lot of slimy nasty in your run, you could arrange to share some with a local wildlife rescue, zoo, someone with pigs, etc. Please let us know how it goes!