So what do your chickens like as treats?
So what do your chickens like as treats?
My silly chickens seem to like just about everything but love soft apples, pears, left over potatoe salad ( went over real well with them grabbing a hunk a running around with the others chasing it) bananas even meat.
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- Jaye
- Poultry Guru - chick level
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
My flock's favourites are mealworms and green grapes. Cucumbers, zucchinis, watermelon, cheese, kale, chard and wheat grass are also welcomed. They aren't all that fussy about tomatoes or apples for some reason.
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France
- Happy
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Just about any leftovers are a hit. Mashed potatoes, pasta, corn, bread, spinach, fish....pepper seeds, cantalope guts, yogurt, watermelon, tomatoes, cheese. Different chickens have different favorites.
My old girls go crazy for raw peas and grapes. Stella will just about commit murder for cantalope. Sharon loves yogurt best. Sherman adores cheese and will leave his girls in the dust if he sees me with anything orange. Spanky and Stewart love scrambled eggs most of all.
They have been taught the word "candy" means something yummy and they come running to their pen when i say come get candy lol.
My old girls go crazy for raw peas and grapes. Stella will just about commit murder for cantalope. Sharon loves yogurt best. Sherman adores cheese and will leave his girls in the dust if he sees me with anything orange. Spanky and Stewart love scrambled eggs most of all.
They have been taught the word "candy" means something yummy and they come running to their pen when i say come get candy lol.
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Cooked Pasta is an all time favorite. I can't go out to the coop without oatmeal and peas for breakfast. I get the evil eyes if I don't show up with that combination. I just have to say 'Here Chick, Chick ' and the come, in fact I don't really have to say anything just walk outside and they come running.
They love birdseed. Love watermelon. Pretty much anything goes here! They love salteens.without the salt. Go figure!
They love birdseed. Love watermelon. Pretty much anything goes here! They love salteens.without the salt. Go figure!
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- windwalkingwolf
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Most of my chickens and turkeys will kill for grapes. If I go out with grapes, I have to hide my hands (and count fingers lol) when I run out. And melons, ANY melons...split one open and they're like piranhas. They're getting several a day right now, and they don't seem to be getting tired of them; it's a feeding frenzy every time. Soaked dog kibble is like crack to them, but then again most of them were raised on it as chicks...birds that have never tasted it before view dog food with great suspicion and will sometimes take a little taste and promptly wipe their beak as if they've eaten something yucky...then seem to think about it a little bit, and then dive right in.
The ducks and geese have a similar reaction with soaked dog kibble as well, but their absolute favourite is lettuce. Even wild lettuce gets shredded in no time flat.
The ducks and geese have a similar reaction with soaked dog kibble as well, but their absolute favourite is lettuce. Even wild lettuce gets shredded in no time flat.
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
@windwalkingwolf ok, new one on me, dog kibble? I'll need to try that. How did you figure that one out...lol
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- x 4839
Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Mine get whatever is available. Leftovers, veggie peelings, whatever I have excess in my veggie garden, tree falls of pears (before the bees get them). They really love whole heads of cabbage, keeps them busy for a couple days. Only thing I have found they are not over fussy on is strawberries?? In Summer I have lots in my garden that I plant and share with them, once winter comes I go to the reduced produce section at the grocery store.
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- Ontario Chick
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Grapes and bits of old bread is ahead of anything else,
summer garden leftovers, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberry hulls, apples and gourds and melons of every kind,
winter, apples from cold storage as they age and anything from a reduced produce counter and boiled potato peelings.
Ameraucanas will eat absolutely anything, so they also get whatever the Wyandotter turned their beak up at :)
summer garden leftovers, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberry hulls, apples and gourds and melons of every kind,
winter, apples from cold storage as they age and anything from a reduced produce counter and boiled potato peelings.
Ameraucanas will eat absolutely anything, so they also get whatever the Wyandotter turned their beak up at :)
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- Farrier1987
- Stringy Old Chicken
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Chickens and goats and small horses will almost do backflips for Cheetos. Happens about once or twice a year.
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Farrier1987. South of Chatham on Lake Erie. Chickens, goats, horse, garden, dog, cat. Worked all over the world. Know a little bit about a lot of things. No incubator, broody hens.
- windwalkingwolf
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Re: So what do your chickens like as treats?
Well, I have dogs in the house, and occasionally have birds in the house too, sometimes by accident (we do not discuss the day that Penny learned to let herself in the back door. I still have birds check the back door several times a day), sometimes by design. I caught them several times, frantically trying to break up big chunks of kibble, and it always reminded me of a kid in a candy store. I had to soften it for Wendyll once when he had a tooth pulled and wouldn't eat hard kibble...and suddenly the invader chickens turned into Tyrannasaurs. Since then, if I have a bird eating poorly/losing weight, and they WON'T eat soaked dog kibble, I know it's something deadly serious I also tried it as baby food when I had to unexpectedly brood new chicks because the hen (a meatie) abandoned them. I had no chick starter. It was a hit, and I use it for small batches of chicks ever since. I figure lamb and beef are probably just as good for them as a protein source as soy, if not better. Only birds I don't give it to are broilers, because the chicks are highly prone to Cocci and I've found they NEED medicated feed, and because if you give older meaties soaked dog kibble, they will either have a heart attack from pure joy, or eat it until they explode LOL
Cheetos? The orange snacks? Really? Who'd have thunk it?Farrier1987 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:50 amChickens and goats and small horses will almost do backflips for Cheetos. Happens about once or twice a year.
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