4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Ness3103]

i've had my girls for a week now, and loving every minute i've tried pasta and rice and they're not particularly fussed on those, they like the mixed corn. i've got a wire treat ball but not sure what to put in it if i give them broccoli do i have to cook it first i've got some cucumber but wasn't sure whether to give them big chunks to peck at or slice it and i want to give them grapes but didn't know if i should cut them in half, i don't want them to choke oh says they're going to eat better than him and the kids

[Margaret]

Well...I'm so experience 3 whole weeks,

mine hate grapes, corn on the cob and all things green!!!!

Love new boiled potato, tinned sweet corn and the Borashi bran ( not sure of spelling sorry). Cost a fortune buying things I think they may like, Hubby complains that they are better fed than him. Oh also eat everything in the garden Grass, Flowers, Love sweet peas, and geranium leaves, but terrified of scarey yellow rubber gloves!!!

Not much help I know but think you just have to try everything, Oh also love bread.

[The Dogmother]

Treats are fine, but try to limit them to the late afternoon and only give a tiny bit. Your hens need to eat mostly layers pellets or mash, otherwise they will stop laying.

 

You can still enjoy them chasing pasta down the garden, just keep it to a minimum.

[stoice]

You may find as you have them longer their tastes may change.

I tried pasta twists with my girls and they turned their beaks up but spaghetti - they loved as it looks like a worm (especially if you wiggle it around for them, it's very funny) They like twists now they know it's the same stuff.

 

I stuff a fat ball cage thingy with cabbage leaves or an apple. They didn't like apple at first as they didn't know it was soft and sweet inside so i cut it in half then chopped up a part of it really small for them to eat without breaking it up, placed the pieces on the apple halves and they soon worked it out. Same with pear and cucumber. I felt that if they thought it wasn't worth breaking up they give up really easy.

 

I can now put in whole apples, pears, cucumber etc and they'll peck at it.

 

They love fresh corn cobs hung up in the run too - occupies them for a while, so does a whole or half cabbage. (Dried corn cobs haven't gone down so well, so i popped them in the microwave, mixed reviews from girls really)

 

cooked veg peeling are always welcome too but trying to tell them to eat them from a bowl is a nightmare. Clearly they taste better picked out of the dirt in the run!

 

As Claret suggests I only give these in the afternoons and in quite small amounts (Of pasta, bread, fruit etc as I'd have fat birds or squitty botties!)

[Ness3103]

thank you we have a rule that they get their treats before my boys go to bed and in small amounts

 

they know it's treat time now and wait at the gate for the boys to go in the run with them. we did make the mistake of not doing it at the usual time the other night and the boys went to bed. the girls were very cross and stood at the gate making a right racket

 

one other do i only hang the wire treat ball in at treat time or can it be in there all day i was thinking of putting some spinach in it later

 

[stoice]

I hang veg in the cage treat ball thingy all day as they don't get to free range when I'm at work. If they eat it all in one go in the morning fair enough, but that leaves them with the rest of the day to eat their pellets. They seem ok on it. I see it as some hentertainment for them aswell as some greens they would've been getting had I let them out. (I'd rather 'sacrifice' a cabbage than it be my pansies, geraniums, bamboo etc which has suffered in the past!)

[chickencam]

Mine love lettuce, and you can quite often find cheap reduced ones at this time of year. Because we grown our own they get loads and earlier in the year they ate loads of bolted spinach and loved it. It gave us lovely tasty orange eggs

 

They only need about a tablespoonful of mixed corn each as a late afternoon treat. I give them the one with grit in it too and use it as a way to get them back in the run after free ranging.

[The Dogmother]

Green treats aren't so much of a problem - just the more filling and less nutritious ones.

 

I heard of a lady who treated her chooks to hot mashed potato each morning, then wondered why they weren't laying.

[Budgies]

 

I heard of a lady who treated her chooks to hot mashed potato each morning, then wondered why they weren't laying.

 

As others have said, Ness, keep treats to a minimum. They're like all animals, they can easily get overweight, and that can cause peritonitis amongst other health problems.

 

Green treats are best. I always chopped my grapes simply because my girls wouldn't eat a whole one and there was a bit of head shaking and gaping afterwards the one time Mango did get a whole one down!!

 

I gave them raw broccoli or the occasional cabbage leaf, but lightly cooked would be fine too I imagine. Once again, too much greens can give them the squits, so that's worth knowing!

 

As Clare pointed out, it's the whole maize (corn), bread, potato, pasta kind of treats that do the most harm potentially, so really keep these for very rare occasions.

[The Dogmother]

Bread can sometimes cause problems - the gluten in it forming a ball in the crop and causing an impacted crop. If you want to feed your flock bread, then soak it in water first. I don't feed it to mine, just to avoid any digestive problems really.

[Chucky Mama]

When I first had my girls they wouldn't touch anything other than their pellets and corn. They turned their beaks up at pretty much everything else. They now love a variety of treats and will eat most things but don't really go for lettuce, cabbage and the green things that other chickens seem to enjoy. I wonder if that is because they eat a lot of green things whilst free ranging.

[Guest]

I know I thought I wasnt giving many treats just a handful of corn or some s"Ooops, word censored!"s but on advice from here regarding the softies I was getting stopped moreless as soon as I restricted to layers pellets only(I dont give as many treats now..she says as I have just got some spare peas to go to give them..famous last words)!!! indie