Food Scraps?

[ducks4you]

I feed all leftovers from my table--that the dogs don't get--EXCEPT leftover chicken or eggs. There was a recent Mother Earth article that said feeding your chickens sunflower seeds can cause chickens to get cancer, but you have to buy bags of that.
My chickens get bread, lettuce, sweet pepper tops & seeds, lunchmeat, beef or hamburger including t-bones that have meat left on them, pork steak bones with meat, fruit from canning (that has started to go bad), black bananas and other bad fruit or bad parts in fruit, apples, peaches, pears and cherries from my fruit trees during harvest season, AND grass--they eat blades of grass like spaghetti noodles, AND weeds and anything non-toxic that grows on my property from Spring to Fall.
Nobody has died of cancer, yet, BUT many have travelled to "Freezer Camp." =b

 

[chad-o]

We are going to get chickens for my son's 4-H project. they say not to feed the chicken table scraps but I always thought you could. What do you all do?

Keep in mind that most of what you get is opinion not fact.
re: I use horizontal watering nipples. My friend says he will not because they are not natural. True chickens do not have nipples. The fact is they are cleaner and healthier than other type watering systems.

 

[donrae]

Keep in mind that most of what you get is opinion not fact.
re: I use horizontal watering nipples. My friend says he will not because they are not natural. True chickens do not have nipples. The fact is they are cleaner and healthier than other type watering systems.

That's funny--does he use a feeder? Talk about un-natural, all their feed elevated in one dish. Natural is totally free range, no coop, no management at all. Water from a puddle/creek etc. Course, natural is also very low on the food chain with a high death rate.

 

[xianshouston]

Thanks for the responses. Very helpful. If anything I have learned in my "chicken" research is there are lots of theories on raising chickens - I guess its important to do what works for you and your chickens and never quit researching and learning. One thing I learned as a teacher is that something different isn't necessarily right or wrong, just different.

 

[audioguy]

We feed them anything except meat. We compost.

Chickens are kinda like feathered goats! I just put out grapes, apple halves, stale bread and broken up pretzels.

Let them enjoy!!

 

[aberto]

I have six laying hens and I feed them table and kitchen scraps almost daily. The only issue I have found is when I have given them a lot of scraps in a week, I may find soft shell eggs.

Because they are eating more scraps than the feed, which is full of protein and calcium, they don't get the essential nutrients needed to produce a hard shell.

 

[Shimmana]

I have fed my chicken food scraps from day one. In the winter time I warm leftovers up for them, and they love it. I am careful not to feed them things like onions and raisins, or any other foods on the no, no list. Everyone tells me what healthy and happy chickens they are.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Lots of us BYC-ers feed scraps to our flock. I am daily learning on here what is good, what should not be fed to them, etc.
As far as it taking the place of their nutrition from their feed....I feed mine the crumbles first thing in the morning. They will happily eat all of that up first. Then, about noon, I take any people goodies out....salad scraps, veggie peelings, shrimp shells, protein bits, scrambled eggs and shells, ....all the things that they might enjoy. Noon is treat time for them!

Around 4pm...or depending on when the sun is setting.....later on in the summer...I take out fermented feed for their supper. They gobble that all up also. So far, I have had healthy chickens. Oh, I have learned, they won't eat salty foods (ham, potato chips etc), do not eat cinnamon, and only citrus sparingly. Other then that.....they eat what ever I can toss into their run.

 

[Misslauri]

I used to grow corn just for my girls, also they love cantaloupe on a hot summer day. And they love the grubs I did up in my garden.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

My flock is super lucky, I work at a grocery store and they get first pick of any old veggies, fruit, yogurt, bread, cereal and anything else that needs to be written off!!!! You should have seen them with the yogurt.....I thought they would never be clean again!!! It sure cuts down on the feed bill and they get a diverse and balanced diet.