WHAT KIND OF "PEOPLE" FOOD CAN CHICKENS EAT?

[MayoShawna]

hmmmm .... now there's an interesting idea.

Ok... i'm a jerk... If we were to feed our girls nothing but chocolate, think we could get them to produce Cadbury Eggs?!

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

Ok... i'm a jerk... If we were to feed our girls nothing but chocolate, think we could get them to produce Cadbury Eggs?!  

Yes! And then we can argue about hollow versus solid.

Dang this thread anyway ... I've had a hankering for chocolate these last couple days.

 

[NYREDS]

there are some things of which there are never leftovers. my birds don't get any single malt either.

Now that's just crazy talk. I've had leftover chocolate cake many times but never any leftover Single Malt.

 

[NYREDS]

I hope canned cat food is OK, because my chickens love it!

OMG!

 

[NYREDS]

Did I say if chickens eat a small amount of chocolate they will die? No, I didn't. However, you try feeding your chickens large amounts of chocolate over a period of time, and see how well they go. Not well. Whether they die or not, that's not the point. The point is how healthy they will be. And after doing that, I doubt they will be.

I'd also like to add that not everyone has as much experience with poultry as you do so there is no need to be sarcastic - or criticize someone's opinion.

And where did I say or even suggest that i feed my chickens large amounts of chocolate over a period of time? i didn't did I? I said on some occasions I've tossed the remains of a stale cake in the run for the flock to pick at.

 

[Nutcase]

Come on guys, calm down! Xoeab just asked a simple question, it doesn't have to turn into a big argument. BYC should be able to discuss chocolate without fighting.

One thing's for sure, my chickens aren't going to get a share in my chocolate!

 

[Sandstorm495]

Agreed. I for one have had enough of arguing, but I'd like to add:

NYREDS: I never said you fed your chickens large amounts of chocolate. I was asking how healthy your chickens would be IF you did feed them large amounts of chocolate over a period of time.

 

[SILKIEOBESSESED]

I hope canned cat food is OK, because my chickens love it!

. NO NO!!! Cat food= bad

 

[3ChickensNADuck]

Yea,I agree with you guys, as long as it's in moderation. I give my birds any leftover I have. If they eat it, that's great, if not, than it's not for them. Lots of things people say I shouldn't give them but hey, the birds got to live too. Like today I had an old pastrami sandwich I gave to them. Was it the best thing for them-no. Did they enjoy it-yes. Just like people they eat the wrong things but enjoy it. The big thing is, they always have free access to their layersmash/pellets if they choose to eat it. They're ” free range.”

The only time I'll stop them from eating, is if they're eating styrofoam with sauce or food on it, but if one of my birds is just eating plastic or something for no reason than maybe that bird needed a little push towards natural selection cause it's taste buds are dumb. Just wondering, has anybody feed anything there bird didn't like?

Ex. I had some flour which was still good but expired. So I thought, birds like bread and gave it to them. Well, it was a little funny to see them take big beak fulls of flour than sneeze. But they weren't to excited about the first taste and didn't finish it.

Anyways, I guess personally these are pets/egg layers. I got to have fun with them and let them have fun by eating delicious food. It's like letting them eat bugs. They have a chance of catching worms by eating grasshoppers, earth worms, etc. and in extreme cases die but i'm not going to stop them. They love that stuff.

 

[MaPa26]

I did a search on this site for "peas" but came up with threads on peafowl. So I came to this thread because it was the closest I could find to the subject on what chickens can and cannot/should not eat. Very amusing. Now, since I cannot find any "no-no" on peas, I guess it is okay to feed my hens raw peas. They had been in the freezer a long time and wouldn't be at their best-tasting condition. I gave my six girls a cup of thawed peas, mixed in with their evening scratch treat (giving a cottage cheese container full of scratch a few hours before roosting time since it has been extremely cold and temperatures are often in the single digits during the night and early morning). They picked the peas out like they were candy. Since they are a legume, I thought they should be okay. I will check the Merck site to be sure.

I also give them half a cup of plain yogurt with 2 cups of layer pellets, occasionally. Foods that some people recommend, that my girls turn their noses up at, are: cantaloupe, watermelon, lettuce, and a cup of stale honeynut cheerios. I thought they'd love the cheerios but nothing has touched them, not even my two dogs. My hens do go bonkers for worms, grubs, spiders and grasshoppers (just not very many of spiders around this time of year and of course, NO grasshoppers or crickets or moths--all are favorites). Worms and grubs are very scarce, too. The girls have eaten MANY a brown recluse, as our shop was overrun with them before we got chickens. They love mealworms and BOSS. They don't get a treat everyday, but a couple of times a week, for sure. I haven't tried pumpkins, yet. They didn't eat apple, but I just remembered they finally discovered tomatoes and we had to fence off our little garden bed because of that.

(Edited: I found Michael Apple's post, regarding BYC's article on treats. Peas is on the list and okay. )


To add to the previous discussion on "toxic" foods, I choose to err on the side of caution. It is difficult to know how certain foods will affect the kidneys and liver until it is too late. My brother had a pet squirrel and one day fed it a couple sections of orange. He found out the hard way that citrus will shut down a squirrels kidneys.

I haven't checked to see if there is anything in the forum on toads. This last summer, we had an overabundance of rain (two or three years of drought) and the toad and frog population exploded. There really wasn't anything I could do to keep the hens from eating them. Even if I had kept the girls in their run, toads and frogs would have found their way in, there were THAT many. Whenever I could, I'd catch them and get them out of the yard, mainly for the sake of the little toad/frog. We haven't had many since 2009. One reason was the drought. The other was because of the yorkie mix that we rescued. She had chased off the few remaining toads. Try as we may, we could not break her from messing with them. With the chickens eating so many little toads, we wondered how that would affect the eggs. They were still tasty and we didn't suffer from any foaming at the mouth or hallucinations.