What your chickens can and can't eat!

[ChookaPete]

My chooks go MAD eating my Red Ice Plant! (Coppery mesemb, Malephora crocea). It used to grow prolifically in my front garden, until they gobbled it all up.

Fortunately it still grows well on the outside part of my front garden fence...but then the chooks discovered that too. Whenever I go in and out of the front gate they wait and try to sneak through...


One day I just gave in and let them have a banquet...

 

[BDutch]

This is true.


Occasionally I feed my chooks leftover chips I had bought as part of a takeaway meal from a pub, or a fish & chip shop.


A couple of months ago the chips I was buying happened to be very salty, and disappointingly soggy (just not cooked enough, no crunch).

I noticed that my chooks started actually knocking back the chips! They were like "Nope, had enough. Too salty and too soggy!"

So I stopped buying chips! I bought some last night from a different venue and those were made quite well, so I ate all of those. The next time I go there I'll save some for the chooks to try.



And that is the basis of all this - chickens will not eat poisonous things, and will voluntarily stop eating things when the levels approach toxicity (unless there is NOTHING else available for them to eat, including grass and bugs etc.).

To give your chickens unhealthy food on purpose, is never a good idea. Neither is treating yourself on salty snack food.