how to feed veggies and kitchen scraps

[chickenteen]

the title says all, so how do i do it do i cook the meat or feed it raw, do i cut up the scraps or somthing?\\

 

[ScoobyRoo]

A lot of stuff is left over from cooked dishes. Some chooks will eat anything cooked or raw. Mine will not eat raw pumpkin but they will eat it if I cook it. I did just that today. I split it in half. Baked it a while then I put in old grapes, raisins, freezer burned peaches, eggs, bacon fat, just about anything. Then I let it cool and later I put the two 'pumpkin' bowls out for the chooks and they are lovin the smorgasboard!
It really boils down to how your chickens like it prepared.

BTW

 

[teach1rusl]

I feed mine table scraps (only if there's not enough leftovers for us humans...lol). As for veggies and such, I just put them out there raw...they're usually already cut fairly small from chopping or dicing anyway. My chickens also get the heels of bread, since none of us like that part on sandwiches.

 

[mommathea]

I just have a 'junk' bowl on the conter that I throw bits and pieces into all day. Veggie scraps, bread crust that hte baby threw on the floor, trimmed fat from meat, scraped off plates, not drunk juice or milk, ect. Basicly anything that is food in nature is tossed into the bowl. The next morning after out son lets them out of their fence to free range I put the bowl outside the door for the girls to clean out for me.

As for meat scraps - I will cut the pieces a little but don't worry about raw vs. cooked. I just gets thrown out to the birds

 

[jojo54]

I cook up a mush for them and they love it. I use cut up vegetables, rice, oatmeal, bread crusts, scrambled eggs, etc. It changes daily depending on what we have available. They look so funny when they come up for air with their dirty beaks. They also still are getting a pail of raw tomatoes every day as they ripen.(we had WAAAY too many for us to eat).

I think it all depends on what they are used to and how much work you want to go to. I also cut the fat and gristly parts of steak and roast into little pieces so they all get some. If I left it whole one or two would hog it all. They do love their meat. I haven't given them any raw meat yet but it seems that alot of people do.

They do also get raw vegeatables and fruits when available and I'm not making up their mush.

I guess I do spoil them quite abit when you read the above.

Oh well, not is too good for my girls!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

A lot will depend on your particular chickens and what you have to offer them. Sometimes if they're unfamiliar with a particular food item they won't eat it unless some bird gets brave & tries it first. Some things they'll relish if it's cooked but not raw, and vice versa.
Right now I have a lot of pumpkins I got from our church's pumpkin patch, sometimes I'll bake it but other times I'll feed it raw.

Sometimes I think it's better to NOT cut it up into chunks, there's a risk they can swallow too large a piece for their systems to manage. If they peck it off themselves they'll have nice manageable beakfulls. Also, it can keep them occupied pecking away at it all day, like a cabbage or corn on the cob.

In our house there's a food heirarchy: food is for the humans first, if it's unsuitable for humans it goes to the chickens, if unsuitable for them it goes to the compost pile, and only if unsuitable for the compost pile does it go into the garbage can. Chickens can handle almost anything that's not too spoiled except for chocolate, and some folks say no avocado or potato skins, or at least green potato skins. And they're better off without much junk food, things heavily salted or sugared. Just like us.

 

[twentynine]

Throw'em over the fence and let the chickens sort it out. Period--the end!

 

[ChookHappy]

Our chickens aren't too picky about preperation but they will not eat carrots unless they have been minced or in peels. Beside that anything that I feel they might choke on I chop into a decent size. No matter what they will not eat a pear. Odd little creatures.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

ok,
everyone has their own way of doing it..
I like to shred most of what my chickens get, garden scraps etc....as then I don't worry about them swallowing anything to big, and causing impacted Crop.

I do apple chuncks about 1 in thick for pecking pleasure and melons are quartered..
but Lettuce, cabbage etc have to be shredded.

 

[rainbowgardens]

I'm trying Harvey Ussery's suggestion of letting your flock do the composting for you. He had an article recently about it in Backyard Poultry Magazine.
I filled their run with all the leaves I could get my rake on. It's packed down to about 24" now. I throw all my kitchen scraps in there along with pumpkin chunks and weeds.
The hens have been happily scratching through the leaves finding all the tasty tidbits they want.
I don't worry about cooking anything for them. They get any cooked leftovers of ours that make it past the dog. Last weekend I threw a bunch of mashed potatoes in there and they were scratching like crazy looking for every speck.

I look forward to spring when I scrape back the top layer and scoop out lovely rich compost for the garden.