Why not spoil them?

[cwelte]

Oh, and they do get a lot of "free-range" time. So I like to think they're getting some balance over the regular feed.

In some ways, I think that letting them have a backyard like this to forage in IS kinda like spoiling them.

 

[Morrigan]

Our hens are still growing, and while they LOVE mealworms, that's a "sometimes" treat. They've been loving watermelon, but honestly, the best treat that they really love is not really an "eating" treat. When I cut the grass, I take the first full bag and dump it in their run. They go nuts! They scratch for bugs and eat some of the grass, but they'll scratch and move the pile over the course of a few days to a shady spot under the coop where they nest in it. I clean it out after a week and they have to wait another week or so before I do it again. It's funny, before they'd hide when they heard the mower start up, now they run to the edge of the run waiting for me to dump the bag.

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In the Fall, I dump a big bag of leaves into the yard. Same thing -- they love scratching through it for insects.

 

[JennAtTheFarm]

My chickens get their treat everyday. I pick a bucket of weeds and any bug eaten produce and throw it in their pen. I figure it’s what they would get if they were aloud to forage. They love it.

 

[Fluffy&Cutie]

I find it odd how 'treat' here seems to mean anything except commercial feed. Before corporations got in on the act, weren't most of the so called treats mentioned above considered to be chicken feed...?

yes, that's what i was thinking.
i haven't finished reading this thread, yet, but what is considered treats?

My treats are cold and frozen fruit/veggies, garden grown herbs, meal worms, various seeds/nuts, and a hard boiled egg. I give a variation of this in the afternoon and then at get in the coop time. what's the difference if they can get this while free ranging and it's healthy for them?

 

[Fluffy&Cutie]

First of all... I love Bob Hope!

My oldest chicken is going to be 11 in September. I have never put any of my chickens on a strict diet. I have a feeder that holds 30 lbs of feed and I fill it up with layer mash (and occasionally I'll mix in some cracked corn or oats...) and they will eat what they like when they like. "Jewel" my oldest hen (she is a Black Sex Link) loves cat food and if we don't keep her off of the back porch everyday her lunch will consist of a cup or two of Kit & Kaboodle

We typically give the whole flock some table scraps everyday (this could be anything). And they all get some peanuts or oats at least once a week.
Our Black Australorp hen "Bibby" is absolutely spoiled rotten. Every afternoon without fail (she is very faithful) she'll come walking up to the front porch, and beg and beg until someone comes out and throws her a handful of something (her favorite treat has always been rolled oats).

All of our chickens free range dawn till dusk, so at the end of the day their crops are bulging to no end

So, to sum it all up: Treat your chickens if you like, just make sure their 'feed' doesn't consist of potato chips or crackers. And that they always have access to a good healthy feed

wow! 11 that's amazing!

 

[Fluffy&Cutie]

I don't have any grass or even weeds to feed my chickens, here in the desert for most months of the year. There might be two months that I'll have some grass (not a lot) growing for them. So yeah, I feel a little guilty. They really enjoy that grass when they are lucky enough to have it! So that may also play a part in why I like to treat them.

the chicks ate up all my grass! my son is so sad, "They have no more grass, mom." I promised him i would grow some fodder for them!

 

[llombardo]

My chickens get their treat everyday. I pick a bucket of weeds and any bug eaten produce and throw it in their pen. I figure it’s what they would get if they were aloud to forage. They love it.

Now at least I got a reason to pull weeds..lol

 

[RodNTN]

They can eat peanuts? Mine went crazy over raisans.

Yes I just make sure they don't get too much at one time, seeing peanuts are very salty.

 

[Seaecho]

Well, we pay for the 350+ days a year of sunshine by having no grass or weeds, but I do the same thing--dump a garbage bag of leaves into their run in the fall everyfew weeks, until the leaves run out a few months later. And yes, I knew about horse dung, but keep forgetting to offer it! I give sunflower seeds, but I always rinse the salt off first. Cwelte, all that greenery! My chickens would think they were in Heaven! But then, the humidity and all the rain and snow VA gets-I couldn't deal with that. So I live in the blazing desert!

 

[gocgo]

I try to limit the scratch grains in the summer just because I have a lot of greens available and I like the bright orange yokes as do my customers. Tanking up on french fries doesn't make me want a salad. Throw a salad out there first, and I'll probably limit my french fry intake. In the winter, I give more scratch grains just because of the amount of energy that they expend keeping warm.