what to feed and what not to feed

[Bookworm chick]

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LOL, that's exactly the same things my chickens love too! They turn up their beaks at grass and weeds. Just gotta have that clover! Mine also like blueberries.

 

[Fuffy]

Hi
Does anyone have an idea how much lawn clippings I can put in my chicken run?
I mean: A handful per bird (-ish) or a big pile of the stuff for them to rummage through?
Wouldn't it be harmful when it starts to get warm?

 

[Akane]

Lawn clippings from what? If you use a gas powered mower animals like guinea pigs, rabbits, and horses have fallen ill from eating the raked up clippings. Otherwise I doubt you could give them too much. It won't stay in a pile and laid out grass just dries to hay.

 

[rstampa]

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Not just that they don't want to eat the citrus fruit but it makes for thin or malformed eggs. You feed them calcium (Oyster Shell) to increase the PH for them to get more alkaline. Citrus is acidic, which is on the opposite scale. The Ph is acid and that is counter productive in egg formation. Never give Citrus fruit to your Layers.

Just putting my 2 cents in.

 

[rstampa]

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Only give green lettuce to your chickens. The iceberg lettuce is just filled with water and has no nutritional value.

 

[Akane]

I doubt the ph of citrus fruit is going to impact the ph of the reproductive tract. That's like saying drinking soda (which can be lower ph than human stomach acid) is going to cause broken bones in people. That's not what causes lowered bone density. It can cause ulcers and acid reflux but in a healthy person or animal the body balances out the blood ph to a very narrow range irregardless of what you eat unless we are talking certain chemicals or medications. I'd really have to see some proof to back up that you can change the ph of any part of the body except the stomach by what you or a chicken eats. Usually the only reason to caution against the acid of citrus fruit in the diet of humans or animals is because it can cause damage to organs or tissue it comes in contact with before being digested.

What all fruit can do though is throw off the Ca ratio. Most fruit is high in phosphorous and low in calcium. That will cause problems in large amounts for critters that need a lot of calcium. However some oyster shell on hand should counter that.

Iceberg is also high in magnesium and other minerals that can lead to diarhea in mammals. Don't know about birds but it can actually cause death in rodents because of that.

 

[MamaMia72]

I have had great success with apples, pears, berries, grapes, watermelon, tomatoes (and yes cherry tomatoes are great keep away fun), lettuce cores, cabbage, and cucumbers. They haven't seemed to like broccoli or bell peppers or just the peels of cucumber, though they will eat it if it's part of the whole thing...guess I don't blame them!

 

[itshotinjt]

My first flock LOVED roaches. Our neighbors piled their trash until they took it to the dump and the roaches would be out at night. We would turn on the porch light, the roaches would run around and the chickens went wild!
Now we have ants that get in my new flocks cage, but the chicks don't eat them. They are the bigger ants, so I figured they would be tasty treats-maybe not.
I feed a lot of scraps as treats, as well as softer fruit that my family finds asthetically unappealing. I have to peel cucumbers and apples or my 3 year old won't eat them, so the chickens get those skins as well. Can they eat banana peels? I threw a whole banana in last week, but can't seem to find the peel. I am still finding dried up rinds from watermelons and cantelopes from the summer!

 

[speckles]

I heard somewhere that feeding fruit to your layers will halt laying for a couple of weeks. Anyone have any experience with this. Is it true..or just another old wifes tale?