Feeding Frozen Peas and/or Green Beans

[SusanD]

Hi,

Our weather is expected to get hot again over the next two days (yes, I will be glad when fall gets here

). My Mom and I were afraid to feed our chickens watermelon, as we have one that just started laying normally, (after laying softshells for a couple of days) and we want her to get plenty of layer feed (or an alternate source of calcium). My Mom was wondering about feeding them frozen peas and/or green beans. I told her that I thought peas were ok, and that I wasn't sure if the green beans needed to be cooked or not. Would either of these make ok treats, and if we go with the beans, do they need to be cooked?

Also, I was wondering if there were any tricks I might be able to use to keep our nest boxes cooler. We currently have a prefabbed coop with a roof that opens and have been leaving the roof open during the day. Going by the thermometer (which may not be completely accurate if the sun is shining on it), it is 5-10 degrees hotter inside than outside. I'm a little concerned that they might get overheated while trying to lay. In fact, one of them looked a little hot when she came outside after laying today.

Thanks,

Susan

 

[SilkieNation]

Hi,

Our weather is expected to get hot again over the next two days (yes, I will be glad when fall gets here

). My Mom and I were afraid to feed our chickens watermelon, as we have one that just started laying normally (after laying softshells for a couple of days) and we want her to get plenty of layer feed (or an alternate source of calcium). My Mom was wondering about feeding them frozen peas and/or green beans. I told her that I thought peas were ok, and that I wasn't sure if the green beans needed to be cooked or not. Would either of these make ok treats, and if we go with the beans, do they need to be cooked?

Thanks,

Susan

Good. Peas have protein too. No need to cook.

 

[Nexxus6]

I feed my birds (18 chickens and 2 turkeys) frozen corn, peas, and mixed vegetables everyday. They also get lettuce and tomato.
It took them a bit to figure out to wait a couple of minutes for the frozen veggies to thaw.
They also get watermelon when its hot outside.

When it's hot my layers will lay in the coolest part of the coop in the pine shavings in the back corner of the coop. They hardly ever use the nesting boxes.

 

[SusanD]

Thanks for your replies. My Mom ended up giving them some greens and also some blueberries. The combination seemed to work well

 

[desertrocks]

Thanks for your replies. My Mom ended up giving them some greens and also some blueberries. The combination seemed to work well

Willamette blueberries are the best. I bet they loved those. I know my girls do.