What scraps/titbits do you give to your chickens?

[maristella]

New chicken keeper on a steep but enthisiastic learning curve here :)

So far our chicken has loved chopped apple, butternut squash, toast crusts, lemon balm leaves, grass, salad/dandelion/cabbage leaves, broccoli.

What do you give your chickens?
Can they eat mushrooms?

Raisins

Grass (torn up short enough that it won't cause impacted crop); they often pick at those bits that grow through the chicken wire from the outside.

Veggies (they can eat just about everything except avocado and potatoes) - including those got at by slugs etc. / when we have too many during a glut. Greens will help to make the yolk more orange.

Various herbs that are growing somewhat faster than they need to be

Porridge - basic porridge oats, mixed with a little water / bio-live yoghurt (good for the gut), with a thick consistency so they can pick it up with their beaks rather than attempting to drink it, heated in the microwave. If I've got some supplement that will be beneficial to them, then that gets chucked in too (e.g. Apple Cider Vinegar, Poultry Spice)

Mealworms (for an occasional, pricey, treat)

Grain (often scattered amongst some hay / straw on the ground, so that they have to work for it)

All in moderation, however, fed at the end of the day, and not every day, and always given in addition to ad-lib layers pellets.

Any leftover;
Catfood
Egg
Fruit - mine love grapes and melon
Veg
Cheese
Pasta
Bread (not too much but OK as a treat)
Mince

I also feed grain/corn mixed with codliver oil and a probiotic. Also any edible weeds from the garden - dandelions, groundsel, dindles, grass etc

our girls love banana, especially the really bruised ones that are extra sweet. DH left one in the changebag that was squidgy and they were clucking in delight over this one.

We also do bird porridge, basic oats with live yoghurt, chopped apple and their vermex liquid dose. Warmed up as a winter snack.

We also have peanuts or sunflower hearts that DD can feed them as a treat now and then. A little yog pot that she can scoop up with.

Ours free range about the back garden, they are friendly girls and love coming up to DD for a treat.

They also like feverfew, but in moderation, they tend to nip at all the herbs and bits in the garden. So we don't grow things that could be toxic, just in case.

My 17 have layer pellets and they get all the kitchen scraps bar chicken and eggs and no avacado as it is poisonous to them I understand. Everything else is theirs and they are very fond of warm porridge on a cold morning My free range from about 7.30am until 9pm so work off the extra calories!

Leftovers of all kinds- cooked vegetables, bit of bread and stale cake etc.., boiled up potato peelings (they love them), old pasta, mouldy cheese, paté etc.... Not sure they like mushrooms- you can but try I suppose. I don't think that on the whole they'll eat things that are bad for them (unless it's rodent poison which just looks like corn to them so need to hide it well if you use it).

Ooh, you can definitely give them eggs! Just don't give them to them raw or they get the wrong idea. Any kind of cooked egg is fine food for them- gives them all the right nutrients right back.

also, milk on the turn (they love that), yoghurt even when mouldy. Our chickens are just mobile recycling units- we put leftovers in (and layers' pellets and mixed corn) they drop eggs out the back.

That's interesting duchesse, I thought that it might encourage a love for eating their own eggs, might try it to see what they think. Mine are very fond of beef stew and grapes, it's no mystery why my food bill is quite high!

I think they're too stupid to relate scrambled egg with what they lay every day. My experience with chickens is never say never though.

raisins
lettuce
potato peelings (boiled up)
mashed potato
porridge in colder weather
corn
cucumber
melon

Ooh I didn't know they could eat cheese, was pondering whether to give them some leftover cheese last week. It was a blue cheese.

Mme Bovary- just stick the lump of cheese out there with them- they'll soon demolish it with their sharp pointy beaks. They will also eat cheese rinds etc...

I'll try that, thank you duchesse

mine love spinach stalks and beef cat food

I am such a softy that I buy them extremely expensive meal worms too

Dethawed raw peas

Sweetcorn

Rice crispies!!

We also clean and roast egg shells then bash them into small bits and feed with oyster shell.

Spaghetti !

They think it's giant worms and go bonkers

Sorry to hijack, we're getting 3 week old chicks on Thursday. So they can basically eat anything other than raw potato and avocado? I didn't think they were meant to have meat? How old do they have to be before they can have scraps/leftovers?

Seven, I would like to know that too!

Also when do I introduce them to outside and for how long?

When does the light get turned off - day and / or night

Give em the bone from the Sunday joint or a ham bone and watch them go crazy!
mine also love lettuce, dandelions (free) and cheese. Adore cat food but will ignore slugs unless tiny. #mealworms also good for getting them to come back inside the run!

Ours eat all leftovers except chicken. They even like prawn curry. Their favourite is potatoes/pasta/sweetcorn. Strangely not fond of cake though, which is good because who has leftover cake?

They can certainly have meat - I once saw a chicken catch and swallow a mouse! They have no intention of being vegetarian; think of all those worms and slugs.

Just noticed someone said cat food, how brilliant, I hadn't thought of that. I have the world's fussiest cat and I'm always throwing away untouched food.
Now I can watch his face when I give it to the chickens instead .

I will put out any type of leftovers to see if they will eat it - most of the time they do, including things like curry. They don't like veg peelings much though so those go in the bin and I don't bother trying these any more. They will eat grass clippings and I often chuck in some weeds for them when I've been gardening - some they love and some they will reject, but it always gives them a lot of excitement to firtle through a pile of weeds and fight over the good bits!

I boil up the veg peelings and mash them, then mix with layers mash. They love them then!

Mushrooms are the ONLY thing my girls have turned their beaks up at so far (had em nearly a year) they love rice particularly special fried they really are feathered dustbins and I second the mushy bananas mine fight over them