Topic of the Week - Feeding table scraps to your flock

[Fabidon]

I am thoroughly enjoying this thread and feeling much better about what I give to my girls. We have 9 layers; two Barred Rock are 6 yrs old; one Americana is 5 yrs old; and six sex link are 2 yrs old....all laying.
A local "chicken lady" advised me to give some canned dog food (not chicken based); yogurt and cottage cheese to augment their diet and secure their calcium needs. I add some sugarless natural apple sauce to the mix and they go crazy for it. They get it every morning and the dog enjoys cleaning up what the girls can't lick off the trays.
On the down side though, they started laying thin shelled eggs so I decided I might be throwing off the balance of their diet and stopped the morning treat trays. Since I use DE once a week for worming purposes, I went back to giving them cottage cheese and apple sauce in order to have a vehicle for the diatomaceous earth. After two weeks of no daily trays of this mix, the egg shells are still thin.
We also give them about two cabbages a week by hanging them from a branch in their yard and letting them have fun with the heads. They are typically gone in a few hours.
They get all kinds of scraps; melon rinds plus pieces of melon; salad trimmings (no onions); vegetable trimmings; scratch and sunflower seeds. They are free range about ½ a acre plus our backyard where they have access to the porch and house if we mistakenly leave the door open. It is not unusual to have them roam through the house like they own it! Even the dogs (3) take it in stride and stay out of their way.
I am still perplexed over the thin shelled eggs they are laying and because it is throughout the flock, I have to think it is either a dietary issue or a common ailment.
Does anyone see any red flags with my current program that might be causing the thin shells? Yes, they have ample oyster shell available near their crumble supply and though they don't seem to use it, they are free roaming and eating whatever they find in the dirt.
All suggestions are welcome......thank you all.

 

[Thamasin]

I feed my chickens practically everything. I avoid potato peels, but if I have older leftovers with unpeeled cooked potatoes, they get that too. If I run out of chicken food (our feed store is almost an hour away) , I've fed them softened dry dog food or cat food. As a very special treat, for them and me, lobster carcasses are a huge favorite!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I feed my girls probably 90% food and garden scraps, 10% layer pellet. I had a good score yesterday at work...after a pot luck, I ended up coming home with a full sized disposable steam tray pan full of veggies, pasta, hummus, and a few other bits and pieces.

 

[MasAhora]

.......
Does anyone see any red flags with my current program that might be causing the thin shells? Yes, they have ample oyster shell available near their crumble supply and though they don't seem to use it, they are free roaming and eating whatever they find in the dirt.
All suggestions are welcome......thank you all.

Hi Fabidon, where I live there is no chance to buy and provide oyster shells and all my hens lay hard shell eggs (not the case when I first moved to my place, lots of soft shells).
I am no expert but I prefer to make them "free range" for their treats in our paddock. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week I give them something special like left over roast chicken or a few sunflower seeds but only after they have had their good food (I give fermented feed). Plus all our egg shells go back to the girls, I just crush them in my hand and drop them on the ground in the pen, they then pick at the shells -some days they're all gone in 5 seconds and other days they're ignored...when we weed/mow we make a pile of scraps to keep the foraging interesting for the girls that don't like to to stray too far from the coop. I think the bugs and crushed egg shells are doing them good (and my hip pocket agrees).

 

[Fabidon]

Hi MasAhora,
Thank you for the reply, we also free range and it makes me feel so sorry for the chickens that are kept in commercial "coops" because they don't get the joys of foraging and scratching. I think I will look into the fermented feed, that might be a good change that might harden their eggs. They are healthy otherwise but I will continue to explore new methods to test.

 

[Jiffyrocks]

I wish my chickens would eat more scraps!
They don't seems to care much for them.
They love bugs obviously, but not scraps. I was able to tear bread into tiny pieces and put it in the feeder, and they disappeared. And once i sprinkled some feed onto the watermelon and they started nibbling it, then they started to eat it. But didn't clean the rind. I put corn on the cob out the other day and then went to work. I'm not sure if they ate it, or the dog got to it, cause it's completely gone- no cobbs to be found.
Hopefully they will come around to liking scraps. Or will picky eaters stay picky forever?

 

[Fabidon]

Mine dove into scraps and goodies from the beginning and have not let up. They love the ends I trim off strawberries; watermelon is a big favorite as is cantaloupe. Broccoli is another but they don't much care for the peelings from Butternut squash but will eat the squash and its seeds quickly.
Something is affecting the strength of their shells and that is what I have to concentrate on fixing; I don't suspect the scraps.

 

[PaulaMc]

Mine dove into scraps and goodies from the beginning and have not let up. They love the ends I trim off strawberries; watermelon is a big favorite as is cantaloupe. Broccoli is another but they don't much care for the peelings from Butternut squash but will eat the squash and its seeds quickly.
Something is affecting the strength of their shells and that is what I have to concentrate on fixing; I don't suspect the scraps.

Hi

Mine are like yours and will eat most things ha ha. However, I would be tempted to leave the treats until later in the day to ensure they fill up on layers first. Perhaps even crush a bit of shell into it to help. If they are all having soft shell issues it might be worth a try.

Hope this helps x

 

[Fabidon]

Thank you Paula. I do mostly feed them all the goodies in the morning....perhaps a time change would make a difference. I will try that starting tomorrow.
I'll let you know in about two weeks or so. Thanks again!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I agree feeding scraps in the afternoon more toward evening should make a difference.
Do they get free choice oyster shell?

One thing I noticed with mine is that they refused the manna pro oyster shell. I switched to pacific pearl and they DO eat that. Seriously the manna pro sat in the dish gathering dust while I actually have to refill the pacific pearl.

I also give mine canned mackerel once a week. It seems to have helped a lot.

Oh and mine eat wet mash (just wet but not fermented layer feed). Nearly every hen in my flock will bypass the treats and come back inside for the wet feed. I have 21 adults and put scratch in the run before dishing out the mash. When I get home from work the mash is always completely gone. I give what amounts to nearly 2/3 of a cup per hen.

I do hope the soft shell issues pass and that what folks have suggested works.