What not to Feed Chickens?

[lastco]

I'm sure a lot of "do not feed" foods are subjective, while others are pretty straightforward. If you aren't comfortable feeding something, don't feed it. I know my parents' chickens have been in my mom's asparagus bed (she was not thrilled, let me tell you!), but they were fine. Lol. Migrating birds eat uncooked rice all the time, wild birds eat every part of the apple, etc. It's all about your own personal level of paranoia. Haha! I'll look into the asparagus thing more though. I'm curious now as well.

 

[lastco]

@jeria Looks like asparagus is fine, based on several sources.

 

[jeria]

I found a mention of it once somewhere, don't remember where, I've been hunting through lots of sources in the past 2 months. Rather stuck in my mind since I moved the bed last year so I could fence it away from one of my dogs who loves to graze on it. That way I have a chance of getting some.

 

[lastco]

Bahaha! I had no idea dogs would eat asparagus!

 

[jeria]

I have crazy dogs, I had already fenced my tomatoes, beans, peas, and peppers because I have an older dog who I've caught picking and eating them. I couldn't figure out where they were all going to. So plop the chicks in the 5 fenced raised beds in the fall and early spring to play, they are all ready for them with welded wire. Course I would be out there not being predator safe from above or animals who could get through the 2 inch holds.

 

[KaytaComyn]

Mine get everything and I've never had a problem. We literally scrape our plates after every meal into a little chook feed bin which gets emptied each day into a dirt feed area. The chooks scratch and push and eat what they want and leave what they don't. Every couple of weeks I scrape the top layer off and put it in my compost heap. We put out of date food, their own egg shells, veggie scraps (except raw potato), stale bread, leftover cat food in this feed area as well.

 

[jeria]

Do you feed them onions? If so raw or cooked? I eat mostly vegetarian as it makes me feel better and I use lots of onions in cooking. Some have posted not to feed chicks onions. I actually love the Australian word chooks.

 

[KaytaComyn]

Yes, they love cooked onion. They tend to ignore raw onion, but I've got one old girl who hovers over it and eats the flys that come to investigate.

 

[barred2rock]

Asparagus is the only thing I've put in the coop (besides bedding & themselves, lol) that they wouldn't eat. I believe it won't harm them, they just don't typically like it. Weird, I know... seems like something they'd be all over.