[chickenlicken]

Can anyone advise whether kitchen greens/stalks should be cooked first before giving to chickens?

Thanks
Tracey

[Jeanette]

If it is cabbage they love it uncooked but potatoes I always cook for them. they also like to have a cabbage hanging up so they can peck at it.
  Jeanette

[colliebird]

If it is cabbage they love it uncooked but potatoes I always cook for them. they also like to have a cabbage hanging up so they can peck at it.
  Jeanette

I've had cabbages hanging up and they haven't touched it.  I gave them the stalk from Brussel Sprouts.  Same thing, they won't touch it, or lettuce, broccoli.  Fickle chooks.

Valerie

[agingchick]

Hi mine won't eat greens unless they are cooked. I chop them up and give them a bowl of them at midday
Diane

[8doubles]

It took my hens 9 months before they took to cabbage and kale stalks. The only greens i cook for them now are brussel peelings which they struggle to break up when raw.

[azubah]

I do a lot of cooking with a pressure cooker. I just put all the cleaned chopped cabbage stalks on the top of our food and cook them all together. Then I fish out their stuff first and leave it to cool while we eat ours. They eat them all up and enjoy them.

[shiatsusu]

Mine were refusing all and any veg, now they are quite happy as long as it's cooked, but grapes raw and cut in half are their favourite! Trial and error and a bit of perseverance- you'll work out what works for your girls 

[smiler43]

Mine love cabbage hung in the run, amazing how high they jump for it

[Spadefighter]

I chuck any peelings in a bowl of water and microwave it for a couple of mins, drain it and feed it to them warm. They eat the lot. Greens I usually leave raw. Sorrell is my girls favourite, they go absolutely mad if they see my pick any.

[8doubles]

Chickweed is no longer a weed it is A1 chook greens. "I grew it specially for them" is a great excuse 

[treecol]

Mine go nuts for cow parsley leaves which grow outside my house in abundance. The leaves are young at the moment - give it a go if you can get some. I went into my local green grocer yesterday to ask for the cabbage trimmings (they have a huge box full) and they said that they cannot sell it or give it away even for animal use because of health and safety. I understand pig swill isn't allowed anymore. World gone mad, I think!!

[Paul Plots]

Not ure anyone does this sort of thing now but.......

As a 5 year old it was my job to put fish-heads through the mincer. (The eyes always seemed to be last to go through!!  )

Then boiled potato peelings were added while they were warm along with (I think it was) bran mixed in to the mash.

This was an occasional treat...... but I'm not sure who for.  My parents loved me being helpful and the chickens seemed to dash for their feed.

Greens? They helped themselves in the orchard.

[Allotment_Guy]

Hi,

I recon your chooks will tell you how they prefer their greens.  there should be no harm in giving them any raw veg - and if there was the chooks wouldn't go near them.

Mine prefer not to eat greens if corn is available...

[chickenlicken]

Thank you all, have hung half a cabbage and they all looked at me as if I was mad!! Not interested, but guess they are still young, they just go mad in the garden for the grass!!
Will try grapes but think I'll give the fish heads a miss!!

Will try growing some chick weed too!

Tracey

[Paul Plots]

Fish heads?

It was a few years after the war and rationing had just ended. Eggs were a tradable commodity... we had loads so swapped for fish as well as the fish-heads from the local fishmonger. High protein food for growing chickens!! (Very organic - great in the winter when "greens" were hard to come by).

Spuds from the allotment and "waste not want not" so everything was recycled / used one way or another.