What not to feed your chickens:

[Lovely_Ladies]

Hi just read a post which included a list of human food that is okay to feed your chickens and a list of human foods that you should not feed your chickens. One item on the list of foods to NOT feed your chickens is: “citrus” I have been giving my hens halos/mandarin oranges since they could open there beaks wide enough to take them. They love them. If citrus is something you should not feed your chickens and I have been doings this for so long what are the repercussions? Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can look for regarding there health and well being? Please respond I’m extremely worried right now.

 

[black_cat]

I heard of a man once who just took all kinds of kitchen scraps and gave a bucket full to his chickens every morning. He said,

"Chickens know what is good and what is bad. There are circus fruits and onions and other stuff people say chickens can't have in this, but they just pick through it!"

I'm not sure if that is misinformation though. What do you guys think? I've always been extra careful when feeding my chickens treats because they are pets.

I think that in the same article the OP was looking at, there was a quote "I stopped thinking that my chickens knew what was good for them when they started eating a styrofoam block" Or something along those lines. I do the occasional treat, but most of their diet is layer feed.

 

[NatJ]

we're talking about somebody who threw out human leftovers for the chickens and thats ALL they got

If there were enough leftovers, of the right kinds, then the chickens would probably do fine. But there would always be a pile of stuff that they didn't eat.

For example, if you gave them the leftovers from a school or restaurant, they might eat all the meat & eggs, half of the veggies and fruits, and a quarter of the bread--leaving a big pile of bread and some other stuff that might just rot and stink, or that you could compost (and then the chickens could pick through the compost for worms and bugs.)

If the food scraps really are free, AND if you have few enough chickens compared to the amount of food, AND if you're willing to take the time to manage it, that could work fine. But for most people, it's not the best choice.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

okay, to the op,



i don’t know if citrus is bad, but I feed my chickens mandarins sometimes.
Nothing is good if they have too much, except for feed. Just limit it to like a slice a chicken a week. It’s always better to be safe-ish then sorry.

 

[slip n slide]

Chickens will ea some dumb things bcz the texture seems right,ie,styrofoam,rubber bands,small buttons etc but by and large they know themselves what to eat and not to eat.They can eat stuff that would kill us and not be bothered.
I eat a good diet,very whole food/health conscious so I don't feel bad about feeding them "ppl food".
Fried food is not bad for them either,their body appreciates the fats,esp in winter.
They looove it when I come home w/ a stringer of panfish and get to sort through the carcass pile for eggs ,meat scraps or guts.
Trimming a piece of beef,pork or chicken for cooking? They get all the fat and skin.
Dinner I forgot about in the fridge from two or three nts ago? Chicken food.
Been keeping chickens for almost 50 years and it works for me.Recycling at it's finest;no food waste and some fine eggs in return.
The quality of their diet is reflected in the quality of the eggs.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I heard of a man once who just took all kinds of kitchen scraps and gave a bucket full to his chickens every morning. He said,

"Chickens know what is good and what is bad. There are circus fruits and onions and other stuff people say chickens can't have in this, but they just pick through it!"

I'm not sure if that is misinformation though. What do you guys think? I've always been extra careful when feeding my chickens treats because they are pets.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

yeah, how about NO! you need to supplment with feed!!!

Why do people think chicken feed is magic?

You can feed chickens a healthy diet without chicken feed...it’s a lot more work, but it can be and is done by LOTS of people. Probably not practical in your average backyard, but people do it with as few as 6 to as many as 600 chickens.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

... because it suppliments what they don't get in scraps

unless you are dilegently making sure they get all they need, feed is best

we are talking about Justin rhodes, who threw out normal food scraps to feed their chickens, even though the food was lacking key nutriants

I don’t disagree that you need to supplement and/or feed a balance, I’m just saying that you don’t need chicken feed to do it.

In fact, unless you’re feeding a high protein feed, chicken feed plus food scraps isn’t enough unless you’re supplementing protein through other means.

I’m not saying that chicken feed isn’t the easiest way to ensure minimum required nutrition. Might be the cheapest, too. Certainly the least labor. It’s just not the only way.

Heck, I’m not convinced it’s the “best” way. If it were, they’d sell bags of “people pellet” for human’s to eat.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

yeah, I get where you are coming from, but we aren't talking about somebody who naturally supplimented food

we're talking about somebody who threw out human leftovers for the chickens and thats ALL they got

Yeah, it’d be a challenge at a single family worth of food waste and small flock scale, for sure.

I’m not sure which Justin Rhoades video specifically is being referenced. I know he generally does his birds on pasture or compost. A compost pile with food scraps is going to offer far more nutrition than food waste alone.

It takes “critical mass”. Vermont Compost Co raises birds on “just” compost but that’s commercial scale. The guy from Edible Acres does compost, food waste, and supplemental soaked seed/sprouts.

So, not your traditional “backyard” setup.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

If there were enough leftovers, of the right kinds, then the chickens would probably do fine. But there would always be a pile of stuff that they didn't eat.

For example, if you gave them the leftovers from a school or restaurant, they might eat all the meat & eggs, half of the veggies and fruits, and a quarter of the bread--leaving a big pile of bread and some other stuff that might just rot and stink, or that you could compost (and then the chickens could pick through the compost for worms and bugs.)

If the food scraps really are free, AND if you have few enough chickens compared to the amount of food, AND if you're willing to take the time to manage it, that could work fine. But for most people, it's not the best choice.

Heck, you could probably get PAID to haul away food waste in the right situation!

Composting the “leftovers” is key as you said...keep the smell down, attract worms and bugs, and make a useful end product.

I have two compost piles In my run...one active and one resting. They both hold roughly 800 cubic feet of material. I add roughly a half pickup bed of food scraps twice a week to the active pile, plus enough carbon to offset that.

I was turning some compost last week, literally two days after the snow had melted, and uncovered a ton of worms. That’s free protein for the flock!

But yeah, mine is not the average backyard setup!