Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: andy46 on July 17, 2012, 16:00
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Can anyone give me some more ideas for treats for my 19 wk old chucks please?
They dont like ....mealworms,apple,tomato,celery,lettuce.
They only eat cherries and mixed corn.
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You may have to try them a few times with the same things, mine wouldnt touch cabbage greens to start with and had to try quite a few times and now they love them
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Thankyou i am new to keeping chucks so any advice is really helpful. :D
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Chucked a wrinkly nectarine out today. After looking at me with disgust and telling me in no uncertain terms they would rather have mealworms, they tucked in and it was gone in minutes. :D
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None of the hens I've had will eat lettuce!
We do save our apple cores which we chop up and they love these. Good recycling as well.
Most chooks on here seem to love grapes. :)
Spoilt chooks ::)
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Mine go mad for apple which I slice and hand feed them They also love their corn but especially if I shake in some poultry spice which really seem to like. They dont like cabbage or carrot but I havent tried them with grapes yet. The love the worms that I dig up for them too.
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mine love brocoli & strawberries - happy chook keeping
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A handful of mixed corn is all they need.
Remember you must not feed any vegetables/fruit which have been in your kitchen.
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I've heard citrus fruit is not good - too acidic perhaps. Mine loves sunflower seeds but that could be expensive!
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In the cold months i've always given mine porridge in the evening before bed which they love, keeps them nice & warm through the night.
Mine quite like wheat which the ducks have. I cant go outside with toast or crumpets or ill get mugged.
I also give them as a real treat live white (clean) maggots from the fishing shop, which keeps them entertained for a few moments. Any live bait they go mad for.
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Just to let you all know i have been trying the chooks on and off and they now like lots of different things, they are not sure on bananas yet though...
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Don't be tempted to give too many treats or they can get fat and fat chooks don't lay :)
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My lavender bantams have never eaten what they are supposed to, I think it stems from what they were given before I got them as I think it was more bits of bread and the odd bit of wheat where they came from :-( I have never been able to pursuade them to even eat the layers pellets even though I still put then out in hope. They have mainly wheat but love all the smaller seeds you can get for other birds and shelled sunflower seeds. Their favourite treat is pasta or mealworms. They also like homemade wholemeal muffins made without sugar - not that they are fussy or spoilt! They obviously don't get too much of this kind of thing though as they are free ranging and I prefer them to fill up on the nests and things they find as I think it is far better for them.
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My lavender bantams have never eaten what they are supposed to, I think it stems from what they were given before I got them as I think it was more bits of bread and the odd bit of wheat where they came from :-( I have never been able to pursuade them to even eat the layers pellets even though I still put then out in hope. They have mainly wheat but love all the smaller seeds you can get for other birds and shelled sunflower seeds. Their favourite treat is pasta or mealworms. They also like homemade wholemeal muffins made without sugar - not that they are fussy or spoilt! They obviously don't get too much of this kind of thing though as they are free ranging and I prefer them to fill up on the nests and things they find as I think it is far better for them.
And of course, you don't actually give them pasta and muffins, they just get dropped on the way to the bin, and we all know how quick the greedy chickens are at pouncing on anything they fancy.......... ;)
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Any day now the blackberries will be ripening. My chooks will happily trample on each other to get at them.
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I have only been giving them a few bits for treats during the day as they love thier mixed corn at night :D
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Slugs.
Just make sure the slugs havent eaten any slug pellets though (gather them away from any chance of there being pellets). The bigger the slug, the better the entertainment..... ;)
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We hang a lettuce form the allotment in the coop most night, just high enough to be slightly out of their reach, keeps them amused for hours.
Our would happily run over hot coals for dried meal worms ( is it just me or do they smell really nice, bit like popcorn ???)
I also give them melon which they love as well as: pasta, couscous, porridge, apple, grapes, marrow cut sideways so they can scoop out all the flesh. Basically ours will eat anything they can get their beaks into, snails seem a firm favourite this month though!
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if your hens are eating slugs and snails then please remember to give them a course of flubenvet to eliminate lung worm (they can also get it from mice and wild bird droppings - so free ranging hens should be dosed more frequently).
Any treats you give should not come from your kitchen as this is classed as kitchen scraps and is against DEFRA's laws. Cakes and muffins etc. really are not necessary, some fruit and veg is good but I buy or grow mine just for the chickens - it never goes into my house. Treats (including mixed corn) should make up no more than 10% of the chickens feed. Dark leafy greens or grass are needed to help them absorb calcium.
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T hey only have a small handfull of corn just before bedtime.