What is your chickens’ favorite scrap treat?

[Estrellathehen]

For me, they absolutely LOVE cheese. They go super crazy over it!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Mine love melon guts even more than garden weeds or squishy tomatoes.

I don't bother throwing them things like squash peels and such since they don't eat them.

Really? Mine love any kind of peeling. They mostly ignore limp carrots, but play chicken football with the carrot peels.

I toss the limp carrots into the run anyway, figuring that anything they don't eat becomes part of the deep litter compost.

They hate cabbage, lettuce and kale though.

Mine think that cabbage, or, even better, a head of semi-wilted collards (food pantry leftovers), is next to heaven -- unless they have melon guts too. Then it's a hard decision.

 

[Isadora]

Really? Mine love any kind of peeling.

Yes, if it's just the peel. If I were to cut a squash in half or chop off a bad section so there was a significant amount of flesh on the rind still, they would be excited about that. Otherwise they turn up their little beaks.

 

[rayrose]

I never feed mine table scraps. But their favorite
all time treat are roaches (alive or dead) . They literally fight over them.

 

[3KillerBs]

I never feed mine table scraps. But their favorite
all time treat are roaches (alive or dead) . They literally fight over them.

My sister raises Dubias for her reptiles and gave me a summer colony (I can't keep them over the winter since I can't bring them into the house). My chickens LOVED them.

 

[cavemanrich]

There are many different views and opinions, and observations here in the 25 post here so far. So here is my observation/analysis.
Chickens may have different choices of taste preferences,,, very similar to us humans. I just LUV certain food dishes, that my spouse wants no part of. Similarly,, there are many foods that I will pass on that she really likes. . Also wanted to mention that we come from similar backgrounds. That translates to our taste preferences, are just our individual choices.
Cabbage for my chickens is a definite YES,, But for other posters,, it is different.
On another note. RAISING INSECTS:: Have no desire to try doing such. If such thought would cross my mind,,,,, and DW found out,,,

Spoiler: open carefully

But in the last 20+ years since we have chickens,, our yard is almost insect free. I say almost because it is clear of visible ones anyways. Any new visitors are sent down the chickens' gullet
Prior to having chickens,,, creepy crawlers were common. I did not then, or now use any insecticide chemicals.

 

[GregnLety]

I know it ain't scraps but mine love to find a good ant mound so occassionally they're allowed to range outside the fence and cleanup the front yard too, of course this under observation.

 

[Sally PB]

This time of year, I give them spinach just about every day, and it's gone in minutes. (This is in addition to their mash snack.) In the summer, they get weeds from the garden, and other bits from the kitchen/garden as they're available.

I love watermelon, but DH is not a fan. So they get his share in the summer. I save it for a "it's really hot out" treat, and let them have quite a bit, for a way to cool off and stay hydrated.

In July and August, I hunt Japanese Beetles for them. One girl is not a fan, but the rest of them come running when I say, "Bug snack!"

 

[cavemanrich]

This time of year, I give them spinach just about every day, and it's gone in minutes.

 

[drdoct]

Ours ate a head of cabbage hanging and left it gutted with just the 'spines' of it. Then once we started letting them free range, don't really like cabbage. We had a few from our winter garden that never got up to size and let them in to eat but they just pecked a bit at the top and left them.

Part of the problem is they only eat what the cockerel tells them to eat and he's a conspiracy theorist who doesn't trust anything. Even the chopped Kale that my wife put out for them, they just left it. What they do love is earthworms from when we turn the compost. Also all the privet hedges around have leaves missing as far as the chicken can reach. They've only been out since early December.

I think they'll like the blueberry bush AND the 3 huge fig trees we have. Right now, they forage under those a lot but I bet they'll love it when the leaves are on plus figs and all the bugs the rotting figs bring in. We haven't tried meat yet. The dog usually eats all that.