What's YOUR chickens' favorite treat?

[Stak]

My girls favourite treats are banana and sweet corn but porridge is their favourite cold weather treat. They'll just about knock you down when they see the bowl I use for their porridge coming toward them! They also love their scratch they get first thing in the morning (it's a grain and seed mix that I spread across the yard so they have to hunt for it).

They're a bit fussy about other food - they generally like fruit but they'll only eat vegetables like pumpkin or carrot if I've cooked it. They tend to kick greens around but won't eat them if I give it to them directly but if they can steal it from somewhere they are not supposed to be then they'll eat all they can get (e.g. when they break into my herb garden and steal all the parsley).

Oh and bugs! Worms, cockroaches, spiders, mealworms, earwigs, centipedes... occasionally they get a gecko if I am not quick enough to save it too. They won't touch millipedes or slater bugs (pill bugs in the USA).

 

[Stak]

Our girls love shrimp too! We only gave them the tails the first time and they gobbled them up really fast. The next time I gave them the heads and they thought I'd served up some sort of monster! I blitzed them in the food processor and tried again - voila, they gobbled them up!

 

[csaylorchickens]

Tuna is another treat they go nuts over and cheese but I limit the cheese because of the salt

 

[DGuy]

split pea soup

 

[ISA brown hen]

Bacon rind yes I know it's not healthy, but it's in small amounts and not often. They also love sunflower seeds straight from the dried flower(home grown)

 

[cathy d]

Better do some research on DE. Scientific studies I have read show that DE does not, can not, kill internal parasites. If they ate enough to kill worms by dehydration, it would kill the chicken by dehydration of their stomach & guts.

 

[henny1129]

Ours love blueberries! And one of our Buff Orpingtons is a Cheerio monster!

 

[cathy d]

DE does kill parasites in all animals including humans. I have given it to feral animals in canned food and within a few weeks these animals are healthy and their hair shines. I have a friend food chickens in Poor condition. she said they were free range and they lived in her backyard. She fed them some grain feed. face scratched all the time their feathers were falling out and they were skinny so I gave her some of my DE and within a few weeks the chickens felt better and they weren't scratching anymore and their feathers were starting to come in. now they are healthy chickens playing like they should and they are also Happy Chicken. I told her to sprinkle it in the areas where she feeds them and where they dust themselves.

 

[cathy d]

I also want to say that grain farmers have used DE in their sylos for years to keep the bugs out of the grain. You must use only food grade DE. A big problem, not only our country but in all countries is parasites in our intestines. This can be managed with DE. he said there is no scientific evidence but I believe that science does not want us to use natural remedies because it doesn't make any money for science or the FDA. if you investigate a little further you will find that there are thousands and thousands of people that can attest to the benefits of Diatomaceous Earth and only a few maybe a handful of people that will say something different

 

[cathy d]

[quote name="henny1129" url="/t/83364/whats-your-chickens-favorite-treat/ Ours love blueberries! And one of our Buff Orpingtons is a Cheerio monster!