Veggies

[GreatGrandPa]

Hi everyone! I was just curious does anyone give their chickens veggies everyday? Or just a couple times per week ?

We blend veggies, spices and layer pellets that the hens won't eat, they prefer crumbles, lol. Better half runs the veggies through a processor and stirs into the pellets, juices and all, the hens love it and run to the pen when they see the container. Free range a little in our back yard, lol! We add ACV and low dose 81mg Bayer aspirin to the diy 5 gallon water bucket. Oh, they eat this diet twice daily, plus scratch from 5 gallon diy feeder. Bright red combs and waddles, shiny feathers from diametaceous earth and west Texas sands dirt. Happy hens means large brown eggs daily! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[GooseMom111]

I have a small flock, 5 chickens and 3 geese. The geese spurn almost all offered greens, but have an acre to free range and crumbles always available. The chickens are in a double run and gladly accept ear corn, melon, tomato, cabbage and some fruits, plus their crumbles. I avoid any toxic veggies and they will pick over other foods, and two hens will fly over the gate and free range too. Moderation is key, but I offer them these things 3-4 days a week. I have a healthy flock that gives good eggs, and are good birds. Well, the rooster is a jerk sometimes...
Cheers!

 

[Lizzyduff]

Every day. Usually kale, spinach or other greens, with a few grapes, a wee bit of tomato, cucumber and herbs like fresh oregano, thyme or whatever else is available.

 

[singswithravens]

Hi everyone! I was just curious does anyone give their chickens veggies everyday? Or just a couple times per week ?

My girls get veggies and grains every day. I have ducks as well, so technically the veggies are for them. But my girls forage, so they don't get fat. Right now, there isn't much to forage for with winter. So I will pull a handful of veggies from my duck dunker (a small pail I use for my ducks to "dive" for their food) to hand feed my girls. It's mostly peas and corn, with some carrot, string beans, and every day I rotate what I give them as an extra. Sometimes it's pomegranate seeds. Sometimes it's black-eyed peas. Lately they've been loving cranberries. I also rip up fresh kale, turnip greens, or collard greens but the chickens don't really touch that. Either way, they have their main food and scratch, so yes, my girls get fresh veggies along with their food every day, BUT it's only enough for them to eat in a few minutes.

 

[FrostRanger]

Mine get them occasionally. I don't give them many extras

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you have time and can part some of your effort into keeping a vege garden? Even at where we are, we have to irrigate the vege patch if it does not rain for more than a day. Chicken manure is one of the best organic fertilizers.

That is, of course, if you have any rain water in a dam or water tank(s) to spare.

When I was in Tucson, we had a houseplant that hung from the eave in the front of the house by the front door. It was one of my duties to water that thing at LEAST twice a day! You who don't live in the desert don't understand what the heat is like there. It can be over 110 every day for weeks at a time. Soil is only one factor. You can give a plant beautiful organic soil and water it, but it won't stand a chance in those temperatures, it will simply cook unless you can provide some kind of shade for it and protect it from those temperatures. If you want to grow a sweet potato there, you need to plant it in a pot in your air-conditioned house.

Edit: Gardening in those areas consists of finding native plants that can survive there.

 

[Lizzyduff]

When I was in Tucson, we had a houseplant that hung from the eave in the front of the house by the front door. It was one of my duties to water that thing at LEAST twice a day! You who don't live in the desert don't understand what the heat is like there. It can be over 110 every day for weeks at a time. Soil is only one factor. You can give a plant beautiful organic soil and water it, but it won't stand a chance in those temperatures, it will simply cook unless you can provide some kind of shade for it and protect it from those temperatures. If you want to grow a sweet potato there, you need to plant it in a pot in your air-conditioned house.

Edit: Gardening in those areas consists of finding native plants that can survive there.

Oh my gosh yes... I've lived in the desert and in Alaska, where the growing season lasted 2 months but enjoyed 24ish hours of sun... it's been quite the learning experience trying to grow things in both extremes! I'm still wondering how people keep chickens alive in those temperatures though. When we moved from Seattle this summer, my girls were NOT acclimated to Louisiana heat and they devoured a watermelon every few days along with grapes, cucumber and any other high water content veggie or fruit i could get my hands on. I have upmost respect for anyone who can learn to keep chickens successfully in extreme locations!