Treats for my girls

[Chicken butler]

 

[muddy75]

Today my girls got a treat with their grass clippings.
They luv the carrots, but avoided the celery.

Funny how finicky they can be…..my first turkeys loved celery

 

[Insnesnakos]

An apple hung up is indeed hilarious for us and more interactive for them. It's like a game of tether ball!

I give grass clippings too. In 20+ years I have not seen any ill effects. I do use a mulching blade so maybe that's part of it.

Watermelon is something I buy just for them. I don't like it but my birds certainly do. They go nuts for any kind of melon really.

Mine don't show much interest in watermelon but they love cantaloupe guts and seeds

 

[Mama Lyle]

Don't worry about treats getting dirty. Don't give grass clippings.

Why?
I thought hens/ chickens like grass

 

[Penpal]

My grass clippings are long. My lawn is more of a pasture and lumpy so I have to cut it long. This creates a problem because without roots to hold the grass down, the chickens can't nip off a little piece. This means they get long grass which is what causes the problem If your grass clippings are little snippets it shouldn't be a problem.

The long grass clippings, once they dry out, are useful as bedding.

 

[Mama Lyle]

I cut the grass short with scissors everyday so they eat fresh clippings and I didn't know if they would choke on the long ones.

 

[nuthatched]

Why?
I thought hens/ chickens like grass

Crop/gut impaction. Possible chemical residual on it. It's not good for them.
Grass is not is main part of their diet, they don't have the digestion system for it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why?
I thought hens/ chickens like grass

They do. Chickens are omnivores and eat a lot of different things. When I butcher mine I often open the crop. It is usually full of bits of grass and other vegetation.

As @Penpal said, when chickens eat grass they pick off small bits. The roots hold it in the ground so they can break off small pieces. The problem comes in when they eat long bits of grass. It can twist around in the crop and form a large ball that cannot be moved on down their digestive tract to the gizzard, where it is ground up. That is called an impacted crop and can be serious.

If they do not have grit in their gizzard grass can collect there and cause an impacted gizzard, also serious. That's why I give baby chicks in a brooder grit, so they can grind up anything they may eat that needs to be ground up. One of the first places my broody hens take their chicks is a piece of bare ground where they can eat some grit.

They can eat long bits of grass and not have any problems. It is only sometimes that the grass gets wadded up. Many people regularly feed grass clippings to their chickens without any problems. But the potential is there. If you feed grass clippings it is best to use a mulch setting on your mower when you cut it or run over it two or three times to chop it into smaller pieces. The goal is to get pieces smaller than 2" long. Those will not wad up and cause a problem.

The first time I mowed the grass next to the run the chickens were scared and ran into the coop to hide. But they quickly learned that the mower was throwing bits of mowed grass into the run. It did not take long for them to learn that the sound of the mower meant they were going to get treats of grass in the run so when they heard the mower they crowded the fence waiting for that grass.

 

[Mama Lyle]

Very interesting read, thank you for the input
When I go outside with my scissors and a bowl to cut grass for them, they pace alone the run knowing they are getting grass.
I do cut the grass in small pieces for them.
I usually give my hens about a cup of grass clippings once a day. I am wondering if they'd like more.

 

[Penpal]

Mama Lyle, I think they would like more variety. Broad leaf weeds such as plantin, dandelions, beans.