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

[cluckingmad]

Afternoon all

 

Our lovely ladies have been helping me sort the veg patches out before winter, but have gotten too keen and had a good nibble on the cauliflower/broccoli plants that haven't been pulled yet

 

So, question: as our cauli's etc have done sweet nothing (i.e. no hearts in the cauli's, sweetcorn pitiful....) can I give the outer leaves/remaining foliage to the girls? Our compost bins are overflowing (another trick of the girls' is to jump in and kick everything out... there are going to be some serious chicken fences going up this weekend I can tell you), and I'm loathed to throw anything away that they might be able to nibble on...

 

Another thought was to hang some of the leaves from the cauli's/cabbages up in the run for them - will they be safe enough for them to eat?

[stoice]

Cauli and cabbage is perfect for your chooks. Mine have a cabbage hang up in the run for them to peck at most days. (A little too much may give them a runny bum though if they're not used to it) But i have no idea if sweetcorn leaves are ok, I would've thought so. I've also been giving my girls vine leaves from a climbing vine near the run, they love them but sadly no grapes on the vine this year.

[Egluntyne]

They will love them.

[sjp]

mine are parshal to caul's,apples sweetcorn cuecumbers tomatoes they will eat cabbage if they have to

[whoopsie]

mine have a go at anything they can get their beaks on! Since they are free ranging every day I don't have a lot of control over it - they seem to be fine though i'm not sure about all the slugs........

[Olly]

The only things not to give are raw potatoes or potato peelings (cooked is fine), avocado and apparently tomato leaves are not good, although mine have eaten them and lived to tell the tale. Oh, and rhubarb leaves, although again my hens had not read this bit of guidance, and savaged the poor plant without any apparent effect on them.

 

I'd be cautious about too many treats as they may not eat enough pellets and things could get a bit runny, but mine love cauliflower and cabbage and if you hang them in the run, it keeps them occupied.

[cluckingmad]

Thanks all

 

Thats fab news, now the little ones are i nthe run with the others I'm after as many distractiosn to keep them all happily occupied as possible!

[Hen Watch]

Another thought was to hang some of the leaves from the cauli's/cabbages up in the run for them - will they be safe enough for them to eat?

 

My chooks devour the whole lot not just the leaves. They are partial to cauliflour and brocolli stalks especially. Handy when my kids get through lots of brocolli and I can put the large stalks to good use. I have found though that if I chuck the stalks in the run they won't eat them, but if I tie them to the run bars with string, they get pecked to nothing.....

[Jennifer Jane]

My girls aren't keen on fruit and veg, but they absolutely adore pasta. I did say to my OH that we shouldn't feed them too much of it and he asked how much is too much? Do you feed your girls pasta and if so, how much? We don't give them any treats at all until just before bedtime, and then just a small amount but tbh they would devour a mansize bowl of spaghetti each and still come back for more. They also like macaroni - I haven't tried them on tortellini yet

[Olly]

You're right to leave it till the end of the day, that way they will fill up on pellets which have all the nutrients in that they need. I must admit that my 'treat' allocation is usually determined by how much I have to get rid of, rather than the hens' needs!

 

If it's something like pasta or rice I wouldn't give more than about a fistful per hen though -picture the size of their crop, you don't want to overfill it. I've never really considered this as most of my treats are from my kitchen waste, I don't buy things specially for them.

[Sarahsausage]

My girls get the sqitts if they eat cabbage leaves, guess we're all different! I think I must spoil my girls Olly as I buy things specially for them! Corn on the Cob, grapes, broc, rocket, lettuce..........

[kat58]

My 3 absolutely adore corn on the cob, tinned corn, spinach leaves(bags of baby spinach are very cheap), rice, spaghetti but not too keen on the cabbage!