Cute pic huh! He is the biggest one when they were hatched and still is. This is an old pic of him. He is a huge ball of fuzz now! And what color is he????? And are partridges (dark ones with black top knots not bearded?? I ordered all bearded eggs and the dark partridge is the only one without a beard???
Can a chicken eat anything? As in human food and plants outside
This post (Post #3803559 & Post #3803590) "on tell us something fabulous about your chickens".... has a pic of my partridge (cockerel in the first, hen in the second one) that are both 16 wks old that came from Ideal hatchery. I have others with the same similar colors but more splotchy looking, although they are younger so not finished feathering nicely but they all came from eggs I bought and incubated. I think one of those shows a red top knot/bearded silkie.
I've seen pics of beautiful bearded partridge colored silkies . In fact this website www.americansilkiebantamclub.org/about_silkie shows a very nice one with a red top knot.
Probably not on the food question. But a lot of times animals seem to know what they can and cannot eat, seems like I did see a list somewhere though of do not feed items. If I find it I will post.
Julie
This message was edited Aug 2, 2007 3:53 PM
Here he is as a baby he's still has the "I am king" look!! LOL
What about "junk" food, my hubby is only here 2 days a weeks and leaves donuts, chex mix, chips etc that don't last in this humid weather and I trying to change my eating habits by not eating those things so if he doesn't take it with him its left here. Can they eat occasionally a chocolate frosted donut and other "goodies" or should I toss them? I in no way will give them every week.
I know parrot cannot have avocados, tobacco, booze, pits of any kind (cherry peach etc), apple seeds, onions, mushrooms and most don't feed celery (one of mine loves it though)
Chocolate is toxic for many animals.... I know someone who uses it to kill coons, she says it works. So myself I wouldn't try chocolate. And I have house birds and personally avoid the same things for the chickens as I do them... just to be safe.
I think I read cabbage was a no no someplace but I've seen posts on other forums about them loving kraut... so I dunno.
Somebody will have a real list I'm sure.
Julie
Hi!
I'm new to this forum stuff but have been mostly 'lurking' here for a couple of weeks.
Personally, i have about 30 girls, many different breeds, most have names (of course!)
i feed mine anything the dogs don't want and some stuff that the dogs would want but i feel the working girls are more entitled. my list would include the above-mentioned cereals, junk food, salad leftovers, cooked or even uncooked meats (like when you clean out the freezer) my neighbors even bring over old bread and food they think the girls would like. the only no-no i have ever heard of is raw potato peelings. my hens are free-range over my entire property (8 acres fenced and guarded by an ever-vigilant set of shepherds) and if you are familiar with what a chicken will eat normally, (sometimes yucky) it makes sense that they are such enthusiastic consumers of any and all!
i do agree about the chocolate, and my birds dont like it anyway.
there could be some reactions in the taste/smell of eggs i suppose, but none of my customers has ever mentioned it and i have not noticed it either.
Thanks I remember my grandparents feeding thier livestock and poultry everything but rubarb leaves and tomato plants. I can remember feeding the barn cats in the evening, my grandmother gave them a big bowl of whatever was left soaked in water/milk and bread on top. I wonder how long cat food has been around? Ok enough of remembering the good old days!
So chocolate is off the list!
I've had the chickens actually scratch/dig up small potatoes out of my compost pile (ya know stuff grows there the best..lol) and they don't eat them or even try, they just kick them taters to the side and keep on digging.
Now that is just not normal for a chicken, unless they know it's bad for them. I say that because I don't find much of anything they won't eat...........
I've heard of ppl feeding them all the leftovers from dinner, tacos, sandwich rollups including meat etc...
I think I heard dairy is an issue so I avoid cheese, although they like yogurt. I add cereals, breads, rice, cooked potatoes, fruits (they love melons) veggies, oatmeal, lentils, bran, those split peas for soup and lots of other stuff to their feed on a regular basis and they seem happy and thriving.
Chickens make pretty good scavengers if you think about it..
Julie
My chickens attack my tomato plants on a daily basis. The ducks will jump up and down to rip off the top leaves of my tomato plants. They have all but devoured my pepper plants but everyday I have to drive them away (several times) from the tomato plants.
I would be in dire state if I let them freerange unguarded...lol
I am craving fresh tomatoes soooooooooo badly, I can't even put it into words. It's been months since I had a good tomato...the ones at the store taste like cardboard.
Julie
oh so tomato plants aren't deadly, maybe to other livestock then. My marans, turkeys and guineas have eaten my echinea, pepper plants, hostas (those will be dug and given to a friend to save thier lil plant lives)., some other misc flowers but haven't touched my tomatoes and every weed they could find. They LOVE wild spinach
My hostas are gone, my rose bushes are leafless (it's a horrid site) my irises and daylilies are trampled to the ground... the list goes on.
Julie
julie, i was almost relieved to read about your poor hostas, i suspected the girls had eaten them (to the ground) the only other possibility was bugs. i guess bugs may have been preferable, at least i could have sprayed those!
i agree with above lists, i think a chicken won't eat anything it knows isnt good for it, i've seen mine take a little taste of something new and sort of 'chew' it around to decide. i actually buy the cheap hot dogs (88 cents a pound) just to have as treats for little visitors (and most adults) to feed them.
i was so happy to come across this site and find others with my 'affliction' had about decided i was getting quite weird about my hens, but some of them have such personality!!
Well, my thought on chickens is this. In many places they live wild ( where winters don't kill them off like they do here) and they do pretty well. They are scavengers by nature and seem to have a pretty good sense of what they can and cannot eat. I trust them to make good choices. I think a little junk food is fine, but I wouldn't overdo it ( just like us!) I feed them pretty much anything a little funky in the fridge or any compost stuff as treats. THe only thing I have ever seen a chicken eat that was bad for them is one of my mother's chickens ate a toad and had a stroke and died. They may be related. But otherwise they seem to avoid anything bad for them... and broccoli, so I can't hide that I didn't eat any from my husband, lol!
Lora I LOVE that picture! Cute chicken! I am jealous...I can't wait to have babies again! -Melissa
If you lived closer you could have few!! I have more than I need, I feel another coop gettin built!
And don't let those buttheads (PG talk) get you down, after I shot it 30 times I would have had my husband run it over with my truck before I touched! I once killed a coyote and you could not have made a mitten out of it after I was done!
Blast on!!
You crack me up! I wish you lived closer too. I think we would get along just fine! I think my other half (Ryan) was just dissapointed that I got to be the one to shoot it! He didnt mind me shooting it so many times since I was using his 'cheap' bullets. I remember when he shot a racoon and he shot at it 10-15 times! He couldnt get the thing...then he was all ticked off, not because he couldnt get it...but because he used his 'good' bullets! I just laughed at him. Men sure are silly sometimes.
I still think in the spring we should arrange egg swaps so we can "share" each others poultry...lol.
Julie =0)
That would be a great idea! I would LOVE it!!
I agree! How hard can it be to ship eggs? I am going to have RIR/Orpington crosses! And I cant wait to see what my Orpington/Blk Sexlink comes out looking like!
Well I heard that fatty stuff like bread, oily stuff, ...etc, are bad for chickens because they quickly turn into fat for them.
So everyone start saving their bubble wrap! We will have an all American Egg trade!
Men are silly sometime? Sometimes?? ( present company excepted of course, gentlemen)
Lora, we should do a chicken trade later this summer ( when I'm really sure who is a hen and who is a roo)
mabecca, welcome to the chicken looney bin :)
I bought lots of eggs last year from different sources and only had a couple arrive broken. Everyone came individually bubble wrapped most packed in egg cartons (although some were too big for that...lol) then boxed up, some had pine shavings added as well. Then the little box is put in a bigger box cushioned with newspaper etc....
I already have my bubble wrap ready....lol.
It will give us something to do over the long winter, we can make wish lists of what we really want to add to the flock etc...
~Julie
Backyard we will definitely have to do a trade I will load up my chickens and come to visit!
I am so jealous! I wish I had someone closer to trade with hahaha...Wait...I think I have bubble wrap too! Altough...my present flock is not all that exciting. Mine dont even come in pretty colors like hot pink or blue! If anyone wants a rooster I can wrap him in bubble wrap and ship him out! Hahaha...
Hi, Everyone! Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth...
I've been taking slices of squash and cucumbers out to my chickens when I lock them up at night. They really like those.
I was patting myself on the back recently, because the corn, melons and okra are not planted inside the fenced garden and I was so proud the chickens were only eating bugs in the rows. Oh, contraire! I discovered last night they were helping themselves to corn still on the stalk! This morning, I found a couple of cantaloupes they have been feasting on!
I won't even try to describe my dismay at the damage they have done to my hostas! Or the fact that it is impossible to keep mulch down around the plants!If they were so darned cute, I'd wring their necks! LOL
LOL, I just got done splitting a cantaloupe for the flock, they do love their melon !!!!
Julie
Guess mine will get cantaloupe tonite, since they already started on it. Unless of course, they are already back over there finishing it off! Next year, the fenced garden will be bigger so I can plant the corn and melons inside the fence. What's bad is, they aren't even laying yet, so they aren't even earning their keep! Don't know what they are waiting for.
I was outside today thinking to myself is there anyway possible my hostas will survive this and come back next year. I put another cage around another sad looking rose bush and we don't even want to discuss my daylilies.
I guess I will have to take to moving all my flowerbeds (small in various spots around the yard front and back) to one area that I can better protect. The veggies I already plan to fence in next year, why I thought they would be safe on the deck is beyond me...lol. I prefer to do my tomatoes and peppers in containers....
Julie
Mine haven't discovered the tomatoes and cucumbers in the containers on the deck yet....just a matter of time! Gotta love 'em! I'm sure your plants will all come back up next year...your's probably looks as awful as mine. On the bright side, there probably isn't too many bugs around them!
Robin
Very true about the bugs, now if I can get rid of the flies....lol
Julie
Flies I hate them! was it here I read the gallon milk jug with stuff like cider vinager and other stuff to attract and drown them? If you need the recipe I can search it down!
LoraK, please do! Between the flies and sweat bees, I can't stand to be outside and my poor goats and dog are really having it rough!
Robin
Ok found it with help!! You need a clean, empty one gallon milk container. Be sure to keep the cap. Cut four or five small holes all around about two inches down from where it starts to slope towards the cap (about where the center of the handle is.) Mix 1/4-cup syrup (any kind fake maple, karo anything mostly sugar) and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and pour into container. Fill to halfway with water and put on cap. Place a couple of these flytraps where the flies are thick. (from Becky in OK on another forum!) Thanks Becky!!
What I think would be best if you add all the ingredents, shake it really well, then cut the holes but thats just me.
I might try that and hang it inside the coop. I know one woman was using the fly strips (sticky kind) but her birds got caught in them...that would be a pain !!!
Thanks for the recipe !!
Julie
Our chickens eat anything and are thriving; I never heard that about chocolate, only straight cocoa with dogs. Well, my chickens should have been dead a long time ago and my goats, etc if that's the case, ha ,ha. Orange juice left in a cup will attract a lot of flies. I know it's expensive, but if the kiddos drink OJ in the morning and don't finish it, don't throw it away. Actually anything sweet left in a cup will attract flies....but then you might attract more than you want.
:) Kathy
LoraK, you're the best! Thanks for finding it so quickly! Putting some together today!
Robin
Lora, your picture of that silkie looks just like my red.
I FOUND HIM!! Check out all the different colors and types!
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Silkies/BRKSilkies.html
Scroll down to A Blue Silkie pullet, Ginger Red cockerel and Partridge hen
All my red look like the gingers and there he is! He is a partridge just not a dark one (I have one of those)
Did you see the pictures of the cuckoo colored silkie? How awesome!
