What not to feed your chickens:

[chickentrains]

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.

mine ate cat litter once

I don't think they care

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I forgot to add that he didn't give them anything other than scraps. (No layer pellets, all flock, ANYTHING) The title of the video was something like "how I feed 6 hens for FREE" .

 

[chickentrains]

I forgot to add that he didn't give them anything other than scraps. (No layer pellets, all flock, ANYTHING) The title of the video was something like "how I feed 6 hens for FREE" .

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

 

[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.

 

[chickentrains]

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.

... 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

 

[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.

 

[chickentrains]

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.

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

 

[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.

 

[alwaystj9]

I have a citrus squeeze juicer and during mandarin season, I get all the juice. The chickens get the squeezed halves, which they pick completely clean, and the goats eat all the peels.
All of us benefit from the neighbor's tree. The neighbor gets eggs and juice back.
Chickens and goats are fine and the neighbor and I are fine.
So, basically, for one month out of the year, my chickens get about a 5 gallon bucketful of pulpy orange peels every 5-7 days.
(My chickens free range + get pellets every evening)
(H2O & Oyster shell available 24/7)

 

[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.