"Treats" that your birds don't like

[LCG Chicken Coop]

Our 6 week old chickens love yams (I poke holes, microwave for 5-7 minutes, cool), barley grass, tomato, kiwi, chard, most green leaves, crickets, mealworms.) They did not seem to appreciate uncooked pumpkin, maybe it was too much work for them at 5 weeks.

 

[Pickled Plaid]

I know I'm kinda late to the party, but my girls took a while to appreciate treats beside mealworms too.

As chicks, only two of them would eat crickets. I still can't interest any of them in a strawberry.

Frozen peas, grapes from the fridge or tomatoes have been a big hit this summer, but they weren't super excited about any of them at first. The chickens are still meh about cucumbers (though the ducks will stampede for a cucumber chunk!).

I've made up warm oatmeal with eggs for them on cold, miserable days (always stir well and cool before serving so they don't get burned) which they enjoy thoroughly. I've also fermented feed grains for them with enthusiastic results.

I've pulled weeds for them to nibble on (which the ducks appreciated more).

I've made glorious dust baths for them (which took a while for them to use while I was anywhere nearby).

They've gotten live tadpoles and one fished out a minnow we had put in the duck tanks!!

I enjoy shooing grasshoppers and crickets towards my girls when they're out prowling for tasty bits. They're shockingly athletic when they commit to the hunt.

But by far, the most coveted treat of all was discovered by accident - when one of them snatched up a baby snack that my little guy dropped on the ground. These things:

These in particular send my girls into an absolute frenzy! They're about $3.50 for a pouch, but they're easy to break into smaller pieces, and they last quite a while at our house (yes, I bought a pouch just for the birds!). I don't give them more than a few pieces each, as they seem pretty rich, but holy cow do the girls go gaga for them! They make them in other flavors, but this one is the favorite here.

 

[Henry&Friends]

Mealworms start civil wars, but maggots start tea time. They kill each other for maggots, but they come together and calmly eat maggots. I just don’t understand why

 

[moniquem]

I try to keep treats down to a minimum but when I do give treats I try to keep them as close to what nature would offer them. I don't feed any processed foods like bread, hot dogs etc. I do give them apples, watermelon, zukes, and I make a mixture of oatmeal, BOSS, cracked corn, dry fruit, walnuts that I'll throw out to them occasionally. In the winter I make my own flock blocks to hang up so they have something to keep them occupied.

 

[deek248]

Our girls like Crawfish, Crab, and shrimp shells. Coonass chickens! lol
Their fav is a head of cabbage hanging from a string

 

[9SpiceyChickens]

Mine like bread, cucumber, tomato(attack!!!), and mealworms. I make them "sandwiches". A piece of bread cut in half with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and crushed egg shells in the middle. This is a big once every one or two months type of thing. Mine aren't picky but no dog food for them.

 

[Charlenesmom]

Kale, purple or green cabbage, watermelon, fresh or canned corn, cooked oatmeal with grubleys (better than meal worms), fresh pumpkin, black oil sunflower seeds, fresh grass clippings.
I didn’t think that bread was good for them.
I have two hanging balls that I fill with fresh veggies.

 

[Charlenesmom]

Cabbage and Brussels sprouts. My quail and my chickens all love these two items! My Brussels sprout plants I uprooted and threw stalk with leaves and some sprouts attached to the girls a few times last year and this year...they gather around and eat it clean to the stalk. My neighbor has a treat ball cage, and he hangs it with a head of cabbage for his girls. It takes them 2-3 days to get through one head (9 chickens).

Beet and turnip leaves. They jump the fence to eat these specifically. I can throw them in the run and they enjoy this quite a bit.

A non-food treat is an awesome dust bath area. Anything that makes a nice light dirt area they love: wood ash, sawdust, peat moss, sand in any combination mixed in (or piled on top of) the run ground will provide much interest and enjoyment too.

I repurposed old tires for dust bathing areas in the run, fill with sandbox sand and the hens love them.

 

[PioneerChicks]

We give our chickens all our kitchen scraps and rotten veggies from the garden. My flock's favorites in order are:
1. Watermelon rinds (here a secret, I leave extra on mine for them!)
2. Bread (not stale)
3. Popcorn
4. Anything else we happen to give them.

I tried mealworms once, the chickens loved them. I don't like buying them though. We plan on raising black soldier fly larvae for them soon.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

My girls like Cucumbers and Sliced Peaches