TREATS!!

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

OOooh they love scrambled egg but they aren't quite keen on the red grapes.. very odd, huh?

My old flock went crazy for sweet potatoes and skins, new flock might eat if you leave it. They are all different.

 

[Cupcake1243]

yep every chicken is different
@WhyDoILikeChickens

 

[New2COchicks]

You can mix their food with plain yogurt, feed them herbs from the garden (I do basil and cilantro and mint), chopped plain raw oats, and weeds such as clover or dandelion. My chicks really like the yogurt and oats. They also get all fluffed up and excited when I arrive with something green.

Is there anything in garden dangerous for them?

 

[New2COchicks]

How do you hang food so when they bite the whole hung doesn’t just come down?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Mine free range much of the day, so you can't really call it "treats", but I have several varieties of clover growing, some watermelons and squash (the birds decimated the baby fruits - thankfully I planted them for erosion control rather than my consumption), several millets - they much prefer the white - that went to seed, sorrel, sunflower that sprouted from seeds them missed, and wild black muscadine grapes. None of the corn made it this year, but I have thrown unsalted popcorn (popped) at them for my amusement.

Not sure if they've discovered the seeds on the rosette grasses yet or not - they are so abundant, its really hard to tell. No interest in the bluestem, and my herb gardens are protected from their foraging. The young rosemary they step on (had to cage it for the plant's protection) rather than eat.

oh, and they absolutely destroyed the grasshopper population. No complaints there. This summer was too hot for my composter/black soldier fly set up, so they've not had that protein source.

 

[PopoMyers]

My little girls (5 wks) love apples cut in half, with both ends cut off as well so they can still eat if it flips over. We luckily have a lot of windfalls now. Grass clippings. Cucumbers, just the seeds.

 

[Thechicksdigme]

So far they like cucumbers, mealworms, rice, bananas, clovers and mint.

 

[Sally PB]

I have been catching Japanese Beetles for mine. First, just one was interested. Now all of them gobble them up! They liked the grubs this last spring too. One of my goals is to hunt JBs to extinction on my property, as they killed my hazelnut trees a few years ago.

I have butternut squash vines that just keep putting out more baby squash that have no chance of ripening before the vines die. I looked up what to do with green butternut squash (several recipes) and wondered if the chickens would eat one sliced in half. Yup!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Hiya!! Just wondering what treats you give to your birds and how often? I give my chickens corn and leftovers but I'm really interested to see what you give them as we need to get some new treats for them!
Thanks!!!

I’m pretty boring and mine are mostly vegetarians from the treat perspective but I do give them the black soldier fly grubs and dried meal worms- those when they were chicks. Since they discovered real worms the dried ones aren’t such an attraction. I give mine garden vegetables like cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, I let them play tether ball with a head of cabbage in their run. They love that! They also like frozen sweet peas when it’s hot. I put them in a pan of water or even Save-a chick and let them go bobbing for peas and they drink more and get their feet wet also while cooling down. I even did it will a small pack of frozen sweet corn that I had put up earlier this spring. They really loved that. They pigged out that afternoon! It was like a heat index of 112 degrees and they were miserable and when I put that big pan of cold save a chick out there with that frozen corn out there they really perked up. I mostly use vegetables but you can’t go wrong. Mainly because mine won’t try something new unless they see me eat it first! I also give them grass clippings. They love fresh grass.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Mine love tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, watermelon, cucumbers, corn, scrambled eggs, apples, cabbage, lettuce, mealworms, hostas, and fresh cut grass.