# Table scraps and treats



## valleychicks (May 26, 2013)

My chickens free range during the day, but have a supply of chicken feed whenever they want it. The other day I was watching out of the window and watched as my rooster got into the compost bin and started eating some moldy bread I had put in there. Then the hens all got excited and ran over to help. I'm just wondering If I were to feed them some of our food once in awhile what would be okay and what should I stay away from? 

As for treats...I found some worms a bit ago and my hens became my best friends. Haha. But is there anything else that we have that would be yummy? I heard raisins once..?


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## jaystyles75 (Jul 7, 2013)

Good question to ask! I heard not to give them citrus, but I also wonder what else to stay away from. We compost as well, but most common it's food that has gone bad, and I don't want to give them that. I also give them most of the weeds from the garden. So far their favorite is watermelon.


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## ShowBarnMom (Jul 12, 2013)

I found a list over on back yard chickens, and basically everything is fine except salty items and green potato skins. 

Mine get whatever left overs we have from dinner. Because there's never enough to make another meal. I also buy frozen fruit and veggies, and give those during the heat of the day. Mine love strawberrys and corn. 

Having issues getting layers to lay? Feed red pepper flakes. Bread and other carby things are good for weight. They love oatmeal and yogurt. Think spaghetti noodles are worms.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

My flock gets all the scraps. I have 3 kids so we always have scraps! My chickens favorite meal is spaghetti with sauce and garlic bread lol 

As "treats" I buy a bunch of $1 frozen peas for the flock. Peas are my ducks favorite thing. I just thaw them in running water and hand feed them the peas.


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## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

My flock loves leftovers yesterday a friend gave me leftover chicken jambalaya 2 pounds worth. And between 12 birds they ate it all rice jalapeño chicken all gone


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## DixieBee (Apr 18, 2013)

Mine lately have been getting the ends from us snapping green beans. They love them.


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## Chippets (Jun 8, 2013)

Mine love grapes, hard boiled egg, watermelon, kale, cheese, and granola! Love to watch them run around playing keep away!


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

valleychicks said:


> My chickens free range during the day, but have a supply of chicken feed whenever they want it. The other day I was watching out of the window and watched as my rooster got into the compost bin and started eating some moldy bread I had put in there. Then the hens all got excited and ran over to help. I'm just wondering If I were to feed them some of our food once in awhile what would be okay and what should I stay away from?
> 
> As for treats...I found some worms a bit ago and my hens became my best friends. Haha. But is there anything else that we have that would be yummy? I heard raisins once..?


Our chickens eat all of our leftovers (even chicken!!). They have eaten leftover lasagna, fresh fruits and veggies, pizza crust, etc. when I am in the garden, they go with me in our chicken tractor and will eat the slugs in the garden. I will sometimes throw slugs in for them and oh how they run and fight over those fat slimy things!! Good protein!

At the beginning of spring, my neighbor was dumping out the water from the tarp on their pool. When all that water hit the grass, out came all,kinds of night crawlers! My 4 year old and I collected close to 30 night crawlers in a mason jar and fed them to our chickens. Fun times.

As for the compost: every spring when we are ready to out compost in the garden, I let the "girls" scratch through our compost first to get the bugs before amending our soil.


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## valleychicks (May 26, 2013)

So meats are okay?


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## lilmikeb (Jul 1, 2013)

We have a lot of frogs in our area my kids will catch the frogs and toss them into the coop my chickens love it I've been selective about what left overs I've been giving the chickens in part because be just got a blue lab rescue that needs to put on a couple pounds but after reading this I will start giving them more


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## lilmikeb (Jul 1, 2013)

This is watermelon and a mix of hotdogs pineapple grapes green olives pickles and its a bit hard to see but corn on the cob


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## GinaHamilton (Jul 19, 2013)

My flock gets all the fruit/veg parings, left over potatoes and rice, bread, rolls, cakes that are ready to go, leftover plain spaghetti, oatmeal, garden stuff that isn't good for human consumption, like corn that hasn't grown to full size. I'd say their favorite is watermelon, with spaghetti coming in a close second.


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## nanajan (Jul 19, 2013)

*scraps and left overs*

I give all the peelings, rinds and left overs from watermelon canalope, oatmeal, bread, egg shells, beans peas, cucumbers, I read that potatoes were not good because they are hard to digest but when they are mashed I throw them in also. I worry about grapes and rasins because we have outside dogs and they can be very dangerous for the dogs if the chickens don't get them. My chickens are free range but I do keep scratch gains and seeds in the chicken house where the pymgy goats can't get them. Plus plenty of fresh water for them. Love my chickens


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

I give mine all of my family's leftovers. They will eat almost anything, lol. If you have potato peelings then you have to boil them first though. We have a bread store in our town and they have big bags of expired bread for $3.99. We buy that and brake it up in our scraps and make it a mush. They love it! Also, I know this sounds gross, but we feed ours mice. We catch them in the barn sometimes and toss them in the pen and they gobble them up.


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

lilmikeb said:


> This is watermelon and a mix of hotdogs pineapple grapes green olives pickles and its a bit hard to see but corn on the cob


Good looking hens.


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## chasesams (Mar 4, 2013)

i give my chickens a lot of thigs and if they dont eat it you'll know its not their favorite or they dont like it mine get water melon and old bread regularly and they really love cabbage i take a head and hang it by a rope in their pen and they go to town its fun to watch i githem just about anything except meats


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My girls get all our left overs, stale bread, wilty greens, watermelon rinds, whatever I'm not going to eat and I am guilty of feeding them pasta one day when the car broke and I ran out of actual feed. SIGH. Funny thing though they all hate carrots. My Seramas are finally coming around and eating whatever I give them. Took them a bit. They played in the pile of mashed potatoes but didn't eat it. Finally won out with watermelon a couple days ago when the temps spiked to 90 something degrees. Not the greatest pic (was too bright out for my phone. LoL) but it's still cute.


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## valleychicks (May 26, 2013)

I'm worried my chickens won't eat it. I tried scraps once and they didn't eat any of it...it wasn't until I got the rooster that they started eating what he was eating in the compost. Are scraps okay for chicks (8 weeks)?


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

valleychicks said:


> I'm worried my chickens won't eat it. I tried scraps once and they didn't eat any of it...it wasn't until I got the rooster that they started eating what he was eating in the compost. Are scraps okay for chicks (8 weeks)?


I would think so. We feed ours scraps from day 1. They won't eat it if it's to big, but if they can fit it in their beaks then they'll eat it. (at least mine do anyway)


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

lilmikeb said:


> This is watermelon and a mix of hotdogs pineapple grapes green olives pickles and its a bit hard to see but corn on the cob


Cool! Mine LOVE corn on a cob! And watermelon and macaroni!

The only things I don't feed them are avocados and potato peelings because I heard they were either poisonous or not good or them.


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## dcfrenkel (Nov 1, 2012)

They will eat everything. I know of people who partner up with a restaurant or cafe and take all of their food waste and feed it to their very happy chickens. 
I am inspired by the Vermont Composting Company... There are some great articles about it, here is a snippet of one

"Karl Hammer of Vermont Compost Company (vermontcompost.com) doesn’t feed any purchased feed to his flock of several hundred chickens. Instead, they free range on his mountains of compost, gleaning all their nutritional food from the compost made from food scraps, cow manure, and hay. Most of the food waste comes from local restaurants, schools and other institutions. Our family visited Vermont Compost Company in 2011, and it was incredible to see first-hand. These photos are ones that we took while on the "tour". The healthy and happy chickens were all busily working for their food, while helping to turn and aerate the compost. The covered area is to prevent crows from raiding the compost piles, which would spread disease and pests to the chickens. The chickens are guarded by two German Shepherd dogs."


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

dcfrenkel said:


> They will eat everything. I know of people who partner up with a restaurant or cafe and take all of their food waste and feed it to their very happy chickens.
> I am inspired by the Vermont Composting Company... There are some great articles about it, here is a snippet of one
> 
> "Karl Hammer of Vermont Compost Company (vermontcompost.com) doesnt feed any purchased feed to his flock of several hundred chickens. Instead, they free range on his mountains of compost, gleaning all their nutritional food from the compost made from food scraps, cow manure, and hay. Most of the food waste comes from local restaurants, schools and other institutions. Our family visited Vermont Compost Company in 2011, and it was incredible to see first-hand. These photos are ones that we took while on the "tour". The healthy and happy chickens were all busily working for their food, while helping to turn and aerate the compost. The covered area is to prevent crows from raiding the compost piles, which would spread disease and pests to the chickens. The chickens are guarded by two German Shepherd dogs."


Wow! That is awesome! Our local grocery store gives us produce that is no longer sellable (broccoli starting to turn yellow, tomatoes with a brown spot, bruised apples, etc) for our chickens.


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## valleychicks (May 26, 2013)

That is really cool! I love the idea of not buying chicken food and recycling our old food. Too bad my hickens don't see it the same way. It's hot today so I offered a cool watermelon...it's still there three hours later.


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

valleychicks said:


> That is really cool! I love the idea of not buying chicken food and recycling our old food. Too bad my hickens don't see it the same way. It's hot today so I offered a cool watermelon...it's still there three hours later.


Wow! Snobby chickens huh? Lol! My mama came to visit today so I cut up some watermelon. Saved the rinds for our chickens and they are gone! Lol


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## Wazza (Aug 19, 2012)

I found that they won't eat everything first time. Sometimes it takes a while to work out how to eat it. Mine love leaves from cabbage cauliflower and broccoli and get the whole plant when I have harvested the bits I want


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## lilmikeb (Jul 1, 2013)

MaransGuy said:


> Good looking hens.


Thank you good layers too they just started in the last couple of weeks


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## Regina L (Jul 6, 2013)

My 10 week old girls will eat everything and every leftover under the sun!


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

lilmikeb said:


> Thank you good layers too they just started in the last couple of weeks


Those are Red Stars aren't they? The top pic is a Barred Rock though. (I think) I've been thinking about getting some just for brown eggs. I have white and cream colored eggs and wanted to add some color to them. Have they been good layers so far?


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

Mine love pasta! Ha maybe they think its worms and pretty much anything ha


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My barred rocks are the best layers I have (along with the partridge rocks) - and they love their table scraps.  They usually give me an egg a day for months at a stretch. They even laid through the winter! And they've only had one spurt of everyone getting broody. Also their eggs are huge, brown with a pink tint. It's neat.


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## hennypenny68 (Apr 30, 2013)

When I start giving table scraps I start with bread they love it I do this for a few days then I might add something else and they try it and like it and I continue this from then on and I have had great success with it so far and never had a refusal yet. It just takes them getting use to it and then BAM there eating everything in sight


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

I have never even had a problem anything I bring them is yummy to them ha


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## jennifer (May 14, 2013)

I went down to the local farmers market here and bought a half of a watermelon. It was so hot I thought It would be a nice cool treat. They didn't eat it either .. Weird cause they eAt almost everything


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## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

I have been to our local flea market/farmers market at closing time and asked the produce guy if there was anything they were just going to throw away and came home with two huge boxes of soft fruits brown edged veggies. My girls lived
Me for 3 while days.


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## valleychicks (May 26, 2013)

My chickens are apparently snobby.  they still have not eaten the waternmelon.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

My chickens will eat a watermelon till its see through! With the heat wave we just had I kept rinds in the freezer with strawberries, blueberries and cucumbers and would go out periodically through the day and drop them into the shade for them. 

Other than that I just give them fruit and veggie scraps or egg yolks my daughters won't eat from hard booked eggs.


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## Wazza (Aug 19, 2012)

I made some pea and ham soup and chopped all the fat and skin from the ham bone and our chooks had a fatty feast!


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## camel934 (Sep 9, 2012)

I go around the yard and garden collecting Japanese Beetles and then empty the jug of then in the run. They go crazy! They love the beetles! And it reduces the number of beetles destroying my plants! I guess I am "free-ranging" for them! Lol


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

camel934 said:


> I go around the yard and garden collecting Japanese Beetles and then empty the jug of then in the run. They go crazy! They love the beetles! And it reduces the number of beetles destroying my plants! I guess I am "free-ranging" for them! Lol


I have been going around my garden getting squash bugs for mine


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## Regina L (Jul 6, 2013)

OMG and when I tell people about doing all those things for our chickens, I get laughed at...
I loved the "free ranging" bug collection lol


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

I'm guilty of feeding mine Japanese beetles too... as for watermelon my big girls eat the whole thing, rind and all. They're constantly making me question if I'm feeding them enough but when I see the watermelon gone and there's still regular chicken food sitting out or a carrot that they've been staring at for days I think I'm probably doing OK....


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## chasesams (Mar 4, 2013)

they dont know what their missing


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## chasesams (Mar 4, 2013)

mine love watermelon and cabbage they will eat a whole cabbage in less than 4 hours


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## chasesams (Mar 4, 2013)

MaransGuy said:


> Those are Red Stars aren't they? The top pic is a Barred Rock though. (I think) I've been thinking about getting some just for brown eggs. I have white and cream colored eggs and wanted to add some color to them. Have they been good layers so far?


i have Black copper morans and they lay chocolate brown eggs


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## Elfinworld (Jul 11, 2013)

chasesams said:


> i have Black copper morans and they lay chocolate brown eggs


We have a black copper Marans hen and bet first egg was brown but it wasn't chocolate brown, just darker than a normal brown egg layer's. is that normal with Marans?

Since then she has laid 5-7 eggs a week but they have never been as dark. Now her eggs are just regular brown eggs except for the larger end of the egg tends to be darker.

Anyone else have that?


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

chasesams said:


> i have Black copper morans and they lay chocolate brown eggs


I owned some mixed Cuckoo Marans once but sold them to make room for more breeds. I have been wanting to get some more though.


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