Topic of the Week - Feeding table scraps to your flock

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I know this is probably controversial..

When i make chicken stock, i simmer in the slow cooker for 24 hours, till the bones are soft, then i strain it off and my chooks get the left over solids, minus the onion that i fish out.

They go NUTS! I figure this way at least nothing goes to waste.

I do the same thing, except I don't bother fishing out the onions.

I figure once you're a cannibal, onion breathe is the least of your worries!

 

[Bobby Basham]

I do the same thing, except I don't bother fishing out the onions.

I figure once you're a cannibal, onion breathe is the least of your worries!

How about those left over solids smothered over a bed of rice or pasta, and cooked unions are sweet, not strong like their raw counterparts.....Wow, now I'm getting hungry LOL! --BB

 

[Summer Lion]

Aside from layer crumbles that are available to them daily, late afternoon I give the girls their "scratch feed." It's a mix of black sunflower oil seeds, cracked corn, oats, rice, barley, red wheatberries, flax seed, millet seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds. Every 3 months or so, I'll add pumpkin seeds to the mix. In the morning they might get lettuce & tomatoes, or cereal, or chopped up carrots with apples, cheese, bread. They love bread! And meat is a big fave! Today they got leftover meatloaf & they went nuts over it. I won't give them chicken or eggs, because then I'd change their names to the members of the Donner Party, lol. I get a kick out of giving them different things to eat.

 

[webbysmeme]

What kind of meat is safe to give to chcikens?

I also would like to know about meat for my chickens? We smoked a ham on Mothers Day, there is a lot left over. Can they have ham?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I also would like to know about meat for my chickens? We smoked a ham on Mothers Day, there is a lot left over. Can they have ham?

I've given my chickens most kinds of meat. The only question with ham is how salty it is...too much sodium is very bad for chickens. So, it's not the meat, it's the salt.

 

[Barbs Girls]

Do you through the vegetables in whole or chop them up? Mine are 8-12 weeks old.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Do you through the vegetables in whole or chop them up? Mine are 8-12 weeks old.

At 8-12 weeks, they may be on the young side to eat too many scraps, but it's good to start offering at this stage.

When I give mine scraps, I give most scraps whole...bananas (peeled), apple cores, peels of pretty much any kind, etc. About the only stuff mine have trouble with is root veggies that are whole, like a carrot or a potato.

 

[Studius Eggus]

Ooooh! Maybe I'm just goofy. I am very fussy about what mine get. Never meat, ever.
I make them breakfast about every other day consisting of:
Cooked oatmeal, greens like collards, pasta, fruit and whatever in season berries, all mixed with either yogurt or cottage cheese. I plop that on to soft tortillas and then lay them in different parts of the run so everyone gets plenty.
All I see after that is chicken butts scarfing their food and eating the tortillas
Corn on the cob or watermelon is an afternoon treat that makes them active and thinking. We also use the mealworm containers and blend up fruits and berries that are getting soft to freeze in. like a chicken Popsicle.
I'm growing birds for size and health, my wife worries about the eggs so they get frequent treats of mealworms for protein.

 

[Susan Dye]

I can just see their little faces..."HEY LADY, this tastes like CHICKEN! And BTW, where's Lucy?"

I do indeed feed mine scraps. They get something about every other day or so. I only put enough for them to eat then and there I don't like old food siting in the pen. The girls love there fruits and veggies. Watermelon I think is there fave. I try and not give them too much pasta or meat craps. I will feed them left over scrambled eggs and even egg shells ever now and then. Make sure you crush them up I learned that the hard way with my first flock. One started eating the eggs in the coop, the nest boxes where always a goopy mess. The one thing I will not feed them is chicken! I now they will eat it not even thinking about it. Its just too creepy for me

 

[Ste]

We compost in one end of our run. We put all of our grass from the lawn mower in there. We also give them table scraps daily. I have two neighbors who bring me their scrap "buckets" - any fresh cut fruit or veggie scraps, rinds, cereal, bread, egg shells, rice, popcorn, etc. We don't give them meat or avocado. I put scraps in the compost area early in the day so it's eaten before they go in for the night.