[fastmonkey85]

morning all

i was just wondering if it was ok to give my 4 chickens the ends of a loaf of bread or would this cause them problems. i was told that they would eat most types of food from rice to fruit and vegetables.

i throw them out for the birds in the garden but always clear them up nbefore the girls go out for a run

many thanks alex

[compostqueen]

Chooks will eat almost anything but that doesn't mean they should 

They can have bread but it can over-stuff them so only give it sparingly and break it up small.  Mine have a bit of toast with Marmite on every week  but only in small bits

There are lots of articles on here about chook keeping (Stickies) so please so and have a read at those as there's tonnes of advice 

[karlooben]

u can feed bread in small quanites but make sure its well soak and soggy  even when feeding it to wild birds , it will swell as it goes down the thoat an this can cause blockages an cause slow painfull deaths .

[chrisplot]

u can feed bread in small quanites but make sure its well soak and soggy  even when feeding it to wild birds , it will swell as it goes down the thoat an this can cause blockages an cause slow painfull deaths .

hi
i give my chickens bread and bran twice a week i break up half a loaf and a mixing bowl of bran wet it and mix it up and its gone with in the hour etc

[SUTTY1]

Personally i think all birds should only be fed what they can find in the wild!! ( we can spoil them with out of season stuff though but not to excess)
Otherwise they get fat, lazy and unhealthy just like us humans

[karlooben]

hi chrisplot  feeding your girls bread and bran twice weekly is not really a good thing to do , bread is very fattening for the birds and bran can damage thier calcium intake and chickens need plently of calcium . there was a post on here a while back about it as someone esle said they feed thier bran i was only asking at the time as i was considering giving it to my girls but i didnt as i know its not good for horses .

[browntrouty]

oh heck i am worried after reading these posts. i feed my hens just about anything thats left over, cold chips, cake, pasta, veg peelings (i do boil peelings first) meat scraps, kids cereal, they also get pellets and some mixed corn in the afternoon. should i not do this? i don't give it every day tho.

[karlooben]

browntrouty  the best thing u can do is stick to using good quality chicken feed ethier mash or pellets corn is ok but only a small handfull in the afternoons as a treat for them and lay of the other tpyes of feed . i dont know if your girls are all layers or not but if they are they will probably gain from eating the correct food .

[browntrouty]

they each lay an egg a day, i have 4. their main feed is pellets and some corn in afternoon. i have been giving other stuff as i hate waste! will cut down on it now. thanks.