Chickens can eat table scraps, but is it safe to feed them?

Many first time chicken keepers ask if they can feed their chickens table scraps.We have recently had several people email and ask us this, so today we are going to take a look.In our previous post, we talked about what to feed chickens, but we didn't mention table scraps.Chickens are omnivores.Plants, small animals, and insects are some of the things they will eat.Feeding table scraps to chickens is against the law in the UK.

The basics of good chicken nutrition can be found in this article.You should be feeding your birds a proprietary brand of feed every day in order to give them the right amount of nutrition.The majority of their diet should come from this feed.Chickens would survive without any leftovers, but we enjoy doing it, and it cuts down on food cost.What is not to like about that?The hen has enemies in its diet.

You should not feed your chickens processed sugars.Does this sound familiar?We can control how much we give to our birds once we know what the enemy is.We don't want to kill them with kindness.

Now that we know what a good basic chicken diet looks like, let's find out which foods we shouldn't be feeding our girls.

You should not be feeding your animals meat that is not good for them.Fats, salt, and Preservatives are included in processed meats.Food poisoning can be caused by uncooked and moldy meat.The meat has been cooked.All cat food is ok in moderation.Your hens don't need a daily diet of meat, other than what they may eat in the way of bugs.Chickens eat both meat and vegetables.If your chickens have a choice between a piece of vegetation or meat, they will most likely go for the meat.You might be surprised to know that chickens love to eat animals around the farm.The race is on and the rest of the flock will want to grab a bite if one of your hens is lucky enough to get a treat.If your chickens are a tad under the weather or need an immunity boost, giving them some of their own scrambled eggs does wonders for their health.When your chickens are stressed, the extraProtein is great.

Your hens shouldn't be eating leftover Pizzas, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hamburger Buns or French Fries.It's bad for chickens to have these loaded with excess fat andCarbohydrates.Popcorn can cause an impacted crop.hens do not need doughnuts, it's way too much fat and sugar!It is important to remember that hens do not need salt or refined sugars.There are conflicting views on what you should feed your chickens.I have put together a list of kitchen scraps you shouldn't feed chickens.

Don't feed doubt about something to them.It is better to waste a treat than to make your birds sick.

A lot of keepers make a kitchen mash for their birds.This includes potato skins, seeds, veggie peelings, banana peels, brown rice, spaghetti, whatever was left over from the night before.They add a little water and cook it down into a mash consistency, chop it in a processor if necessary, and feed the birds when it's cooled down.Having watched one of my hens suck down a baby snake, I don't think they would have a problem with long pieces of spaghetti.You don't have to make it every day.If the left-overs are kept cool and don't start to mold, you can make a weekly mash.There is controversy about potato skins.They will be fine if they are not green and cooked well.You can still feed your chickens scraps if the kitchen mash seems too much.Take the scraps and put them in the chicken pen.It should be in reasonable sized portions.The primary nutrition of the hens comes from her feed.It is possible to upset the metabolism of your flock.Egg laying can be affected by this.Pumpkins, squashes, and cucumbers are abundant this time of year.They can be halved and fed to the flock.A pumpkin or two can help relieve boredom.The key is to make sure the treats don't make up more than 10% of their daily intake.

Feed table scraps to your flock to make sure they are healthy.Don't fill these girls up with processed foods because they are working hard to produce delicious eggs for you.If you have leftover food.Throw it in the trash.Just because you can eat it doesn't mean your chickens should.Chickens get all of their key daily nutrition from their manufactured feed, so if you don't have a daily treat for them, you'll feel bad.They are happy to see you.They will be even happier if you give them a treat.We want to know which kitchen scraps your chickens love.

These instructions are very helpful.Good quality food and eggs are needed for health and nutrition.

A cabbage dangling from a line and hanging at a chicken head height is always eaten.The time taken is the only difference.A sweetheart takes about half a day, a hard white takes a full day and a handful of mixed corn late afternoon as a snack in the winter.Their appreciation is shown in the daily egg production.

This is a great post.I have found keeping chickens to be helpful.All personality types are covered by the 4 chick purchase.This has proved to be a real help.Thanks a lot.

Is this right?I am new to chicken keeping and have been trying to keep my chickens off of antibiotics.I have been making baby food.I cook equal parts fruits, veggies, and meat.I mix it up in a blender.I give both grains daily.I lost a chicken about 4 weeks ago.I have another acting slow.I'm hoping it's not my food.Any advice is appreciated.

I don't recommend mixing your own chick feed as it's very easy to get the wrong quantities and cause malnutrition.Un-medicated feed can be purchased if you want to keep them off antibiotics.I would recommend this.

My chick is doing better after a few days, thanks for the advice.The other girls will be able to join her.She is eating again and drinking a lot of water.

I give my 40 girls raw and cooked meat and fish every now and then.They get vegies, grains, seeds, DE, ACV, dried, crushed eggshells and anything they can find on our huge property.I want to take them out of their diet completely and give them some pellets.I need advice on how to do this.

I have lost several healthy hens and a huge r.r. due to my neighbor dumping scraps in my yard.I think they have eaten avacados, but I don't know, I have stopped my neighbor from throwing scraps and kids from giving pizza.

At first it was apples off the tree, but my son loves feeding the chickens.As I was harvesting them to make goodies, I told him only the ones that hit the ground.He was asked by a neighbor to peel them because the chickens weren't eating them.My son loves the chickens.He went hunting for bugs and worms when he ran out of apples.I let him take the chickens at Halloween.I don't like wasting stuff and this holiday cooking has lots of fruit and veggies, so I wanted to let my son give them to the chickens, but they are not ours and we are given eggs.I can assure you that we won't hurt them.

I make a mashed pumpkin, sweet potato and normal potato for my chickens every day.I add a carrot, red or white cabbage, lettuce leaves, and cheese to their tray.I top it off with a little corn maize.I feed them this afternoon.They have all day access to commercial feed and seem to like this treat.I found this site very useful.I will be adding it to the chickens water.Does anyone know how to control a rooster that is very aggressive?Aggressive to us.Hates us!We don't have to introduce new hens all the time because we keep him to protect the girls and to fertilize the eggs.

I have a problem with feather pecking.Some of my girls don't have feathers on their backs.I think it would be good for chickens to eat raw meat in moderation.What do you think should be done to curb this problem?I haven't started feeding raw meats yet.

This helped me as a new person.We don't have any hens, so we're a little strange.3 cockerels came into possession of us recently.We believe they were abandoned.We decided to keep them because they get on well.No one else will take them.It is difficult to find any specific advice for the cockerel.Can most things apply to them?Is there anything we should remove from their diet?

The ladies like watermelon, cantaloupe, and zucchini scraps.Of course with some of the remaining fruit.They played with the watermelon I made and hung in their run.They love the lettuce, shredded carrots, and yellow apples that fall near their run.They have adjusted to the sound of an apple hitting the metal roof of their run.I know they like the apple treat later.There were no seeds.

I would like to know what qualifications you have to say that you shouldn't feed raw meat to chickens.This is the largest load of horses on your website.I have been feeding raw meat to chickens for decades.This should be deleted.

My chickens like cooked shrimp shells because they have a bit of meat in them and the side of shrimp is their favorite part.When I peel potatoes, the chickens love them because I steam the skins.A can of sardines is a winter treat.No more than once a week.Cantelope seeds and rinds are a big favorite in the summer.