Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: silverteen on June 14, 2012, 14:11
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my girls go crazy for grapes, i give them then ones that are slightly soft or fell into the bag and they absolutely love them!
their quite fussy, they dont like pellets much and prefer corn. i give them vegetable peelings/scraps but their never too fussed.
what other treats do you feed that your chickens love?
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Try and avoid giving them too many treats, the layers pellets really should be the main part of their diet (they contain everything they need nutritionally which is important for laying hens). Hens are the same as children and will start to turns their beaks up at their 'proper' food if they theink their is a chance of getting something they prefer.
When you do give treats, they like a lot of different types of fruit & veg (avoid though citrus, uncooked potatoes, onions). Mine like cucumber, melon, tomatos. I also hang up the odd swede or cabbage for 'entertainment' in their run. Funnily enough they don't like grapes thou!
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Im a bit mean this time of year with treats. They have their pellets and free range all day so i keep the treats down to a minimum.
At the bottom of the garden where the veg patch normally is this time of year (havent done anything this year) my daughter goes down and digs a bit over for them to get the big fat juicy worms.
Mine like whole cauliflowers, brocolli, greens, bananas, kiwi (flesh only not the hairy bits) pretty much all fruit actually, pumpkin, most of my plants, hedges :mad:
in fact it would be easier to list what they dont like: Peppers,courgettes, carrots. Yep thats about all i've found that they dont like. Oh and i planted a new forsythia bush and they have not touched it :D :D not really a plant im fond of but there was a gap in the hedge that needed filling and the garden centre were practically giving it away
Try avoid giving treats until late afternoon / teatime that way they will be getting their nutrients from the pellets
Be aware of DEFRA guildlines (see top off page) ;)
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Tried our's with all sorts of greens and fruit, even strawberries, but they're not keen. Don't give them grapes as I don't want the hounds to get hold of them. They are in the garden most of the time so eat grass.
Mind you, they are happy to eat any veg that is actually trying to grow! They have managed to reach the tips of the runners and "pinched them out!" :ohmy:
They have a few mealworms occasionally, go mad for them, and also about a third of a slice of crust between them every three days or so. They would rather peck around under the bird table than eat corn, though someone gave us some millet once which kept them amused when a little was sprinkled on the lawn. (Yes, we still have a lawn!) Wouldn't go out of my way to get any as I believe it is fattening.
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i gave my 3 a few mealworms earlier, it was nearly wwIII! they literally fell over each other in their rush to get every last one before either of their sisters got their beaks into them!! they liked the corn in the mixed corn i gave them yesterday but left everything that was not corn and are not impressed with cooked up left over spud bits, but did like cauli leaves. but the favourite (apart form the mealworms) is their staple diet of mash in the morning.
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Mine love parsley. I use a pipe cleaner and hang it up on their run whenever I see it on the about to go out of date cheap stand in the supermarket. Mine also love grapes, melon and particularly melon seeds. They like my tom plant offshoots and the best bit for them is worms. To the point if I'm digging in the garden, they're all rosey at me to let them out, but I can't cos they're so stupid I swear one will get a fork through it's head. Health and safety in worm hunting has been given to my girls yet.
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Mealworms are a huge hit. I really must stop giving them so much but I have had to stop ours free ranging over the whole garden as there are only so many times we can afford to re turf the lawn ( when we had the really bad snow the other year it meltd to leave a mud covered lawn the girls ate every single blade of grass!)
Ours do love couscous, pasta, mealworms, lettuce, cabbage, corn, go loopy got grapes (try holding them just above their reach, the jump like little bunnies trying to get to them :D ) I don't give them scraps as the food they have is made separately for them if we are having it.
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#1 is slugs. Be sure you are not using slug pellets though! Any other unwanted animal life will do - we have flatworms, wireworms and vineweevil, all of which go down well!
They also prefer sorrel to any other greens that I provide, but goosegrass (cleavers) comes close.
Bread is always welcome, but feed in moderation.
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No offence meant to the original poster but posts like this confuse the hell out of me with the DEFRA law. I will openly admit I have fed my chicks crumbs that were left over from say chopping a baggette/bread or leaves from greens. So have I commited an criminal act? Shouldnt laws that cant be enforced just be known as guidelines? I would like to think that the DEFRA law is more for commercial chicken keeping or is it a conspiracy put together by the people who sell chicken feed?
On topic though my chicks love garlic water, picking the garlic bits out and leaving the water :) They like a hint of lemon in their water also, I heard lemon is a natural antiseptic so I cant see it doign any harm and sugar water.
My bigger chicks love worms, brocoli, and cooked milky porridge with brown sugar.
So with that all said when will defra be knocking on my door taking away my chickens and sending me to jail?
Sorry post hijack not intended.
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Mine like boiled rice, raisins and now pasta, cooked. As well as corn,sunflower hearts, mealworms and live maggots!
I made the mistake of feeding lots of treats and they would not eat their layers pellets but opnce I eased up on them, even though I was getting mugged, they decided to eat pellets. I give Small Holder ones as they seem to like them best.
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The grape thing is interesting. OH forgot to take his salad to work yesterday. The dogs had the salmon scotch egg (he'd left it out of the fridge) and I "accidentally" ;)dropped the salad in the chicken run, where the chooks have access but not the dogs. There was pepper, tomato, grapes, radish, peppery leaves and potato salad.
I was expecting a frenzy....but all they wanted was tater salad! The grapes etc were pecked at and discarded! :ohmy:
So why is my veggie patch so enticing? Eh? :lol:
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Tosca100 mine would have killed for graped :ohmy: I have told my hubby to buy some turfs on his way home to put in their coop tonight in the hope they leave my garden alone but other stuff is more tasty!