What did you give your chickies today?

[Angel16]

Hello, so chickens like pretty much everything?

 

[karlamaria]

Yep ' they love everything! But beware of certain foods, apple seeds , avacodo, onions there is a list some where here .

 

[Angel16]

Okay i will look that list up! i don't want to be feeding them treats that could harm them!

 

[hennotrooster]

Hello, so chickens like pretty much everything?

Yes they do. They will eat black widows to lizards to little wild birds...and everything that falls between yogurt and their cooked relatives. They are eating machines. They are at times picky, snotty, ungrateful creatures who take advantage of the fact that we love our chickens and want them to be healthy, happy and content so that they give us little packages daily. I am just grateful I have only one foody that thinks she is the food inspector of the flock. Gabby will actually look inside the dish to see what is being served and if she is not happy she starts to yak up a storm and will follow me to see if something changes. Gotta love them.

Oh and with mine all must be chopped properly or they leave it. No cabbage heads, no pumpkins, watermelon split in half is okay no whole apples and their water better be warmed in the morning...Love their persnickety little butts.

Oh there is a posting on what foods are not good for them as well as all the good stuff.

 

[Angel16]

!!

they sound like funny birds!!

 

[carladababe]

We had a bit of a snow storn today so I baked a cornbread to help pass the time while confined to the inside. They loved it.

 

[Dagirls]

Hennotrooster. Be careful

I starter with 4 Hens that were given to me then neighbors asked for my eggs.I have 100 grown and just got 50 more. But because I am blessed to have some acerage and I farm I do grow for them to cut my feed costs down. Here everything is shipped and I pay 23 for 50 lbs of layer feed. I do not call them pets but they are my girls. We do share with each coop as I have them split into small groups in chk tractors that I move around the farm. I go to market and sell out in 2 hours. I got more chicks so I can stay at market longer I hate saying I am sold out. People here want fresh eggs as all our store eggs are shipped and coated with mineral oil or some oil. I do love to see return customers and I do enjoy the hens. I just realized that if I want a vacation I now need to pay someone to care for the girls. So today I will feed the girls some old lettuce, pasta and some noni that dropped off the tree. I do not feed my hens onion or avocados.

 

[hennotrooster]

We have 3 acres and my DH wants to put another coop at the back end so they do not become pets. I read that avocados are bad for them as well as citrus. Why is that? I will cut the green tops of green onions for them and they love them is this not a good thing, they do not get them often and I read they help with worms.

He wants do just what you are, sell eggs. I enjoy our small flock, they provide enough eggs for the two of us and are very relaxing to watch. I am not sure I could handle 150 hens and he is just too busy and as you pointed out if we go anywhere we need to have someone come and care for them. What is noni?

My girls got collard greens, apples, finely chopped corn tortillas, tomatoes, and last nights left over rice.

 

[karlamaria]

My baby's got spagetti and meat sauce, and cabbage. There all laying which is amazing since its still snowy and cold as heck. Must be the goodies lol

 

[ladytoysdream]

I have 100 grown and just got 50 more. But because I am blessed to have some acerage and I farm I do grow for them to cut my feed costs down. Here everything is shipped and I pay 23 for 50 lbs of layer feed. I do not call them pets but they are my girls. We do share with each coop as I have them split into small groups in chk tractors that I move around the farm. I go to market and sell out in 2 hours. I got more chicks so I can stay at market longer I hate saying I am sold out. People here want fresh eggs as all our store eggs are shipped and coated with mineral oil or some oil. I do love to see return customers.

Hi
We have 2 acres here and I am trying to grow some feed this summer for the hens. I keep trying every year for a bigger garden, but so far, it is just extra food for them in the better weather. I take my extra eggs to market in the better weather. I also hate to have to say I am out of eggs. Makes for a sad customer.
This past summer I had 29 hens and best I could get out of them was 20 eggs per day. I had 6 go broody at once, on and off
during the summer. Lucked into 16 more adult birds in January this year, and now I am getting close to 30 eggs per day.
I am hoping for 3 dz a day for market or real close to that number. I have a budget I have to be realistic with to feed them.
It is going to get real interesting if the price of grain goes up any more than what it is now. I don't think I will be able to add any more hens. I might be able to sneak a couple more in, but I think 50 will be max. When I first got them, I said 12. Then I got to 20 and said that will be enough. Now I have 45 girls and 2 roosters.