What NOT to feed my little garbage disposals...

[cmom]

Quote:
This is an excellent chart.

 

[ChickaD]

I read somewhere that feeding chickens cabbage family veggies, like broccoli, etc can flavor the eggs (possibly of interest if selling them)...so for ages I sorted our garbage for the hens...now I don't bother and haven't noticed any off flavor...anyone else with experience in this?

 

[Msbear]

I heard avacados are poisonous to chickens.

 

[ChickaD]

another thought: don't feed them celandine, a wild plant (you can look it up for photos) that is poisonous for chickens. Years before we knew this, we'd pull it along with other weeds to feed our hens...well, no one died or got sick, so I don't know if they just avoided it or what. They often free range now and it grows all around the coop, no matter how often I pull it up!

 

[Dustoff79]

After reading the treats chart (very good by the way), I then went to the toxic plants page (http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html) I have a question on many of the "toxic plants". several listed are to be found on my 4 acres where the chickens will free range. Do I risk it and hope the chickens don't for example, eat the lantana seeds, or the oleander? my other animals avoid eating them.

 

[Michigan Chickman]

ChickaD wrote
I read somewhere that feeding chickens cabbage family veggies, like broccoli, etc can flavor the eggs (possibly of interest if selling them)...so for ages I sorted our garbage for the hens...now I don't bother and haven't noticed any off flavor...anyone else with experience in this?

Maybe my taste buds are bad

but my girls go nuts for cauliflower, cabbage & broccoli and I haven't noticed any odd tasting eggs either

 

[ChickaD]

dustoff79, thanks for the link to toxic plants for poultry. According to that list, I'd have to rip out half of our yard! Since our hens have been free ranging healthily and happily for many years, I'm going to let them continue figuring it out. I was pretty surprised to see apples on that list (the seeds), as we've fed apples from our unsprayed tree to them annually, which they love...NOTHING is left of the apples we give them, seeds and all disappear. Hmmm...makes you wonder, eh?

Should we post a copy of that list for our chickens to study, like a coop memo?

 

[foxcrossing26]

As for feeding eggs to chickens, eggs are a great source of protein, but IMHO should be fed only when cooked and mashed up, so the girls dont get the idea that eggs = food. Chickens are very suggestible, and if they think eggs are good to eat, they wont wait for you to cook them!

When I get an egg that has been pecked, I hard-boil it, mash it up, and feed it back to my girls. They fight over every scrap. Scary, but true. Friends of mine toss their old eggs into the woods -- why waste the protein and encourage varmints to come closer to the coop?

As for feeding meat to chickens, they're omnivores, so they'll eat meat if they can get it. I've heard that they like mice. Wish mine would eat the mice that hole up in the coop! I'm sure chickens would eat a snake, too, if the snake was small enough. And as you know, there's lots of meat on a cricket's legs. Chickens wont lay eggs without sufficient protein, and I dont think they care about the source.

 

[ChickaD]

Do you think it's necessary to feed layers extra protein - above what's in their layer pellets? Free ranging would provide some, but I was wondering about other situations, or during wintertime.

 

[Reinbeau]

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Rhubarb? Darn! Mine were nibbling at my rhubarb last night