Some hens eat thyme and chives, but mine don’t. Note: If you don’t see the email in your inbox, please check your junk folder or search your mailbox for [email protected], Navigate to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W-Z. They need to eat it off the living plant though, you can't pick … You can also add lavender to cleaners to give them a calming scent your hens will appreciate. They can, however, eat tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Logged skeltonsuperstud. Try to think of it as more of a crop than a weed When it comes to chickens, flies are a double-edged sword. We just keep picking it & feeding what we don't eat to the pigs & chickens. I live on a small hobby farm in Pueblo West, Colorado with my husband, Patrick. What treats are toxic or dangerous to your birds? If your not sure it’s safe for you chicken, try it and see what they do. Your hens will dig up newly planted seedlings unless you protect them, Your hens will make craters in areas of bare earth, Your hens will find their way through gaps in fences and holes in netting to get to juicy, green vegetables. It can be tempting to take a pale of leftovers out to your coop and dump everything right into their feed dish. Thank you for reading! All I have to do is slice an apple in half and set it on top of my compost pile. It is a good idea to keep poisons out of the area so chickens do not eat a poisoned mouse, leading to the bird being poisoned, Feed in moderation as chickens cannot digest milk. Unfortunately they won't eat nettles (although I have read that some do eat wilted nettles), bindweed, plantain, moss, ground elder, mallow or anything too bitter. You would be safe to grow some sunflowers as long as you protect the seedlings, and you can feed the seeds to your hens when you have enjoyed the flowers. Periwinkle Uncooked rice should be avoided. On the positive side, chickens love to eat flies and absolutely adore fly larvae. I'm Nicole. Surplus courgettes and marrows will prove popular if you cut them in half as hens rather like the seeds and flesh. Sharing your kitchen scraps and leftovers with your flock is a great way to vary their diet, especially when winter has killed the grasses and bugs they usually forage upon. Feeding chickens … On the berry front, hens love strawberries, raspberries and all edible berries except possibly blackcurrants which can prove too sour. If birds free-range or have treat access, start by feeding their complete feed in the morning before they go out exploring. On the whole, hens will eat anything that tastes similar to grass. You can intersperse this layer throughout the entire chicken garden. The seeds, stems, leaves and roots of the Black Elder are all poisonous to humans. I can sympathise with you Susanna as we are overrrun with the stuff too - on the plus side we do eat it (although it is an acquired taste - best wilted with fried bacon & onions). The shade-loving perennial I call ground elder is also known as bishop’s weed, goutweed, and snow-on-the-mountain, among others. Now every now and then, you’ll run into the exception. Human edible mushrooms are ok, Xylitol is not good for any pet, including dogs, cats and birds. Perennial geraniums, hollyhocks, nasturtiums and their seeds, busy lizzies, lobelias, primroses and hostas may all disappear. Crickets: Yes. Download a beautiful 15 page printable version of this Ultimate List and save it to your computer for future reference! There are some food scraps that chickens should not eat, so we have made a list of what not to feed chickens. But, as robust as chickens are, there are still a few things chickens cannot eat. Beautiful Aegopodium podagraria, native to Eurasia but invasive in the United States, has a flock of common names. Chicken-Safe Floral Plants Do not put the treats on the ground in the coop, as this can lead to the spread of disease and parasitic infections. Chickens Sharing your kitchen scraps and leftovers with your flock is a great way to vary their diet, especially when winter has killed the grasses and bugs they usually forage upon. One word of caution though – when you feed your chickens treats, make sure you feed them off the ground. I love animals, the outdoors, and orchids! Also the wet feed is not scattered about and wasted. No, chickens should not eat anything with caffeine. Chickens can eat cucumbers and cucumber peels. The same might happen with chickens. There are hundreds of foods that you can feed to your chickens and some that you absolutely want to avoid. 12. Chickens will eat practically any type of food your throwing out, including meat. Herbs that can prove popular include parsley, tarragon, dill and borage. If the carcass is found by the chickens they will peck at it and possibly eat it- they can become very ill or simply die themselves. Some plants are poisonous to chickens although fortunately they are quite savvy about what not to eat and it is very rare for a chicken to eat poisonous plants due to their bitter taste. If in doubt, keep potentially harmful plants away from your birds. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. And if you’d like to save this list for later, you’ll find a form below to have a printable version of this list sent straight to your inbox (or save it to your computer to reduce paper usage!). Unsubscribe at anytime. Join my text community and easily message me at (719) 292- 3207. A lot of variation f … As you can see, the list of foods that chickens can eat is pretty epic! First you must plan where you are going to grow your vegetables and how you will protect seedlings and young plants from your hens. If you have any questions, comments, or additions, please comment below! Good for probiotics, Contains Persin, which leads to myocardial necrosis (death of the heart tissue) in poultry, Poisonous to most pets, also contains caffeine, Some sources say no as citrus can inhibit calcium absorption leading to soft eggshells, others say that citrus is ok to feed birds, Caffeine is not good for chickens and can cause, Contains hemagglutinin (causes blood clots), Contains Solanine (kills red blood cells and causes heart failure), Contains oxalic acid (causes liver damage), Contains cyanide (prevents blood cells from delivering oxygen to tissue), Potential to swell in the digestive system, causing blockages, Potentially toxic since they are unidentified. The more land they have to free range, the more likely they are to feast on weeds, wild herbs and grass; it follows, therefore, that they are less likely to eat your precious plants, flowers and cultivated herbs. The chickens eat the berries from the twigs and also eat the leaves. Marie Viljoen August 2, 2017. I can’t stress enough how important grass is – whenever I buy a couple of new 20-week-old hybrids (usually raised in barns by agents who then distribute them), the first thing they do is peck avidly at the grass when I bring them home. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. You will need to protect some of your vegetables if your hens are free ranging. Think back to the Second World War when many families grew their own veg and kept their own chickens successfully. Hens fly onto fences such as post and rails because they can perch on the rails on their way over, but they can’t perch on chicken wire! For day old chicks I have it ground and feed wet mash for 2 weeks. Netting is an option, or building a vegetable cage. Ours ignore bindweed, ground elder and nettles. Chickens cannot eat onions as they may flavor eggs in smaller quantities. They don’t tend to eat daisies or dandelion flowers. Yes, chickens can have popped or unpopped popcorn. If I don’t clean those things up, the chickens WILL find them- and if they find them, they’ll try to eat them. You can clean up what they won’t eat … It was years before I could eat popcorn again because I unconsciously associated it with illness,” said ornithologist Bernstein. Windfall apples, pears, plums and cherries will all get eaten. Out of 27 chicks I lost zero. They don't eat ground elder or sticky willies either, sadly - but they kept the weeds down in the vegetable plot all winter and are taking it very badly now that they're excluded! What not to Feed Chickens. Your email address will not be published. In many ways, chickens are like humans. Chickens can eat cheese in moderation. Besides those picky eaters, there isn’t much a chicken won’t eat. I have just discovered that my hens like to eat apple blossom as it falls from the trees but that, of course, is not a problem! I have updated the list to include them. Even on saplings, the elliptical-shaped leaves are too high off the ground for chickens to reach, but the both the leaves and the acorns that drop in the fall contain tannic acid, which can cause lack of appetite, frequent urination, excessive thirst and diarrhea. Welcome to my blog. And this might surprise you also! I’m sorry to keep adding recommendations but I also just put some webworms in a five gallon bucket and the worms made a silk web all the way to the top of the bucket before crawling out and right into the beaks of my chickens. In larger amounts, can cause anemia, Excellent for immune health & as a water additive, Only washed or cooked, as raw contains saponins unpalatable to poultry, Chickens naturally eat rodents. Some herb choices are bronze fennel, lavender, nasturtium, and parsley. Climbing beans should be fine once established as they won’t be able to reach most of the beans, although you need to protect seedlings, maybe with small cloches. Can chickens eat that? The following are some of the more common ornamental plants potentially toxic, yet unlikely that chickens would freely eat these. We respect your privacy. Weeds You Can Eat: Ground Elder. Some annuals can be over-wintered as perennials in warmer climates. Cooked is safe for chickens, Cooked only, to prevent encouraging egg eating, In small quantities. Instead, use a dedicated “treat” feeder or hang the treats from the ceiling of … You can also print the list and hang it on your fridge for quick, easy access. Hi! They contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside. Copyright © 2020 Heritage Acres Market LLC, Raw amaranth contains growth depressing antinutrients, Typically chickens won’t eat ants. They’re the rare case. I have a passion for learning and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. They’re not always the smartest of birds. Yes! All kinds of greens can be planted such as lettuce, mustard, spinach, kale, and Swiss chard. Dock leaves get eaten as a last resort, and my hens don’t go for yarrow but some hens may eat it. Weeds that hens love include chickweed (named because chicks loved it), hairy bittercress, dandelion leaves, fat hen, garlic mustard, wild garlic, lesser celandine, clover, comfrey, sorrel, horseradish leaves, cleavers and groundsel. We also believed the common “wisdom”: without feeding a complete and balanced chicken feed formulated for layers, hens can’t sustain high rates of laying and their health is likely to suffer. Low fences are also an idea – you can get rolls of green, sturdy chicken wire which is 90cm high – hens can’t really fly over this. In less than a hour the larvae will be feasting away on the apple easy to scoop them up and toss them in the coop. Before we began keeping chickens, our backyard was a hilly, wet, clay-ridden, mosquito infested space that we never used, so when the chickens arrived and eradicated the mosquito problem, the chicken yard became a space we could enjoy. Unfortunately, they won’t eat bindweed, plantain, moss, ground elder, mallow or anything that is too bitter and will probably only eat nettles if there is nothing else on offer. Yes, chickens can eat any cooked rice. Excellent water additive for immune support, Obviously, this is not meant to be a primary food source. There are always exceptions to what hens will and won’t eat – like us, different hens have different eating preferences. What can chickens eat? The elder berries may ame as the thrushes, but that will not do is better not to overdo. Although these omnivorous birds can eat the vast majority of the foods that we eat, there are some definite foods that chickens shouldn’t eat. Some say it’s ok, others say it will interfere with calcium absorption and cause soft eggshells, Feed in moderation, chickens cannot process large quantities of dairy, Only feed cooked eggs, so they don’t start eating their own eggs, Much debate on whether raw eggplant is safe for chickens, as it is in the nightshade family. Chickens can eat pretty much anything…and everything! Your hens will be a useful addition to the garden – they are very good at breaking up the soil after you have dug over your vegetable garden in the winter; they forage for pests such as slugs, snails and woodlice and produce droppings, an excellent fertiliser. One of ours, raised from a chick tried a bit when young and hasn't touched it since. Yes! Strong smelling herbs such as rosemary, mint, marjoram, sage, lemon balm and feverfew, are not attractive. I would say to feed little to none, as they will consume at least some in their feed &/or nearly anything you feed them. Sweet potatoes are a different matter all together, and can be given to your chickens without worry. I believe they have the sense to know whether it’s good for them or bad. We knew given sufficient land, chickens can survive mostly on forage and scraps. Your email address will not be published. Safe to eat, though they usually ignore it, Feed in moderation, as it contains nearly no nutritional value, Only feed in moderation, best to restrict to when birds are molting, In small quantities, and only occasionally, The verdict is out on this one. In larger amounts, could cause anemia. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens.47738/, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/are-grass-clippings-bad-for-your-chickens.760044/, http://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/food-hazards/avocado, http://www2.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Nutrition-Amaranth.html, http://www.dummies.com/home-garden/hobby-farming/raising-chickens/plants-that-are-poisonous-to-chickens/, http://www.oldfashionedfamilies.com/things-you-should-and-should-not-feed-chickens/, http://www.hobbyfarms.com/feeding-chicken-scraps-to-chickens/, https://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/poultry/feed-health/what-is-coconut-oil-good-for-chickens/, https://www.backyardchickencoops.com.au/herbs-for-hen-health-ginger, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20075283/, http://articles.extension.org/pages/67473/feeding-quinoa-to-poultry, http://articles.extension.org/pages/65717/seaweed-in-poultry-diets, http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/cyanide-poisoning, https://www.petmd.com/bird/slideshows/8-foods-are-toxic-birds. Flowers that chickens will tuck into include marigolds (the petals will make their yolks even yellower); pansies, violets, border pinks and sweet peas – I would be surprised if any of these lasted for long! Your hens shouldn’t touch snowdrops, crocuses, buttercups, foxgloves, hyacinths, bluebells, daffodils or tulips. Apparently the leaves are best when young and tender, before the plant has flowered. Some people mulch around precious plants and seedlings with rough gravel, use crinkly lawn edging or surround with twiggy sticks — all should prevent scratching feet. If you have a small garden you will have to clean up chicken poo off paths and patios! Chickens are natural foragers, so trying new foods is inevitable. ground in the run, or bind them to the netting. All chickens I've ever had have gone bonkers for ground elder, they absolutely love it. The following plants are appropriate and worry-free for the areas chickens roam. Plants marked with an asterisk (*) have medicinal properties for chickens. Remember that scratch grains should be viewed as a treat and not be mixed with the complete feed. Chickens can eat apples, however the seeds should be avoided as they contain cyanide (which prevents blood cells from delivering oxygen to tissue). Some of the things that should not be fed to chickens includes amaranth, avocado, butter, chocolate, citrus, caffiene (including coffee grounds), dry beans eggplant leaves, and more. Additionally, spring is a good time to review what sort of plants you have growing in and around your yard, to make sure you’re not exposing your chickeny charges to something dangerous. Other garden plants are hit and miss as to which they'll avoid, but euphorbia, an irritant to humans is ignored too - chickens learn quickly. Chickens can eat a lot of different food items– don’t forget they are omnivores, so they love both meat and veggies. Bread should be fed in moderation as it contains nearly no nutritional value, Yes! Learn how your comment data is processed. Chickens are susceptible to salt poisoning: ” Chickens can tolerate up to 0.25% salt in drinking water but are susceptible to salt poisoning when water intake is restricted. Interestingly, we have a beech hedge in the garden which the hens do not touch; however, I have noticed a neighbour’s hens, enclosed with no grass, have stripped all the leaves off the beech hedge as far up as they can reach. w. rpingtons also like to eat the bark of the. Spinach, chard, kale, broccoli, cabbage, turnip tops and lettuce (except for the spicy oriental leaves) will be popular; beetroot leaves are particularly relished, and my hens also eat beetroot and love Jerusalem artichokes which I let them nibble on when I have a surplus in the winter months. 100 grams of crickets contains 12.9 grams protein, 5.5 grams fat and 5.1 grams carbohydrates, plus numerous minerals and trace elements. The list tells you the zone said plant grows in as well as if the plant is an annual or perennial. The time of year is also important – they are less likely to eat your all your plants in late spring and summer when there is plenty of greenery to choose from. They can be added to salads and soup. Eating a sufficient quantity of these cyanide-inducing glycosides can cause a toxic buildup of cyanide in the body and make you quite ill. … Rhubarb leaves would be eaten if my hens got the chance, but they are toxic due to the oxalic acid and so best avoided. accessible height. Instead of cutting down trees, confine chickens to acorn-free areas. We were a host once again this year for Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour, and one of the main questions would-be chicken keepers voiced was what to do with older chickens after they stop laying, or slow way down? But no harm will come if they get in the goat feed, Don’t feed grass clippings with any weed killer, pesticides or fertilizers applied. To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Other flowers they shouldn’t be interested in include lavender, roses, asters, camellias, dahlias, azaleas, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, and irises. Prevention is far easier than cure. You can incorporate it into their feed as well, either fresh or dry, and like I said, it is one of the best herbs for chickens to eat because it does have antibacterial properties, so your hens will derive some benefit from it that way too. Another idea is to use a clipped edging of box or rosemary but this would, obviously, take some time to develop. Bait stations can be enclosed so that chickens cannot reach the poison itself, but the rodent will leave the station and go to die somewhere else. Black soldier fly larvae are a popular chicken treat. For the ultimate list of what you can and can’t feed your flock, keep reading! Some of the foods on this list may not outright kill your chickens, but have been known to cause internal issues and are best avoided all together. Contains Persin, which is potentially fatal. In fact, there are at least 33 foods chickens shouldn’t eat. My chickens eat elderberries with no ill effects, although these are said to be toxic. There are three different types of poison in common use: What can chickens eat? Most evergreen shrubs and bushes, especially prickly ones, are unlikely to be eaten. On the whole, hens will eat anything that tastes similar to grass. A bird who gobbled down a box elder bug and had her throat badly scratched may remember it and take this common insect off her food list. I add landscape elements for us to enjoy, but if the chickens eat some of them, I don’t get worked up about it. Be sure no pesticides were used on any colony. Nothing goes to waste as you can always feed surplus vegetables to the chickens. If you keep your hens enclosed and let them out to free range every so often, they will eat anything that’s green including vegetables, herbs, weeds, beech hedges, some of your flowers and they will dig up anything newly planted! Sweetcorn will be fine as it grows high up, but hens will love nibbling at any surplus cobs you can give them. Fermenting and/or sprouting does indeed decrease the demand which pays for the extra cost of the feed. On the vegetable front, your hens shouldn’t touch carrot and parsnip tops, leeks, onions, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins and whole courgettes. Alternatively, you can buy or make raised vegetable boxes and cover with netting, use tunnels, cloches or invest in hanging baskets. A growing number of chicken keepers are even starting to raise black soldier fly larvae to feed their flocks and improve the decomposition processes in their compost bins. Most people are surprised to see how chickens can eat almost all of the kitchen scraps that we collect for them – and how much they seem to love them! We’ve had some chickens that wouldn’t eat greens, or wouldn’t eat sunflower seeds, and things like that. Seems they like these also. Most chickens are not picky eaters and will be thrilled if you offer them anything on this list. What A Chicken CAN Eat. Thank you for the comment, Curtis! Required fields are marked *. Saying goodbye to Marigold, our favorite Buff Orpington ever. If you rake your leaves into piles, beware of hens scattering them all over the garden again as they love to rummage for tasty bugs, How to avoid buying a clutch of cockerels or breeding more males than you can cope with, Julian Hammer: Honesty box for my surplus chicken eggs, The history of the hen in Mainland Europe, Newcastle Disease ‘likely’ to hit UK poultry flocks, Why you should get electric fencing to protect poultry. Unfortunately, they won’t eat bindweed, plantain, moss, ground elder, mallow or anything that is too bitter and will probably only eat nettles if there is nothing else on offer. They shouldn’t, however, eat the leaves, so this is a good vegetable to cultivate as the tall plants will provide shade. The full list is available here. They can also be cooked, like spinach, with a little butter. When I returned home I did a little more investigation on the internet and discovered that ground elder is … Banana peels are safe to eat, though they usually ignore it. My chickens love them! Chickens generally will not eat it, but if they do, make sure they don’t eat too much as it can taint the taste of the eggs! I am planting comfrey for feed and to dry leaves in bundles for winter treats. It should be unsalted and unbuttered. Use caution with longer cuttings, as they could lead to crop impaction, Avoid fat, only feed cooked scraps, and only in moderation, Can flavor eggs in smaller quantities. Pasta should be fed in moderation as it contains nearly no nutritional value. When chickens eat something poisonous, it’s usually because someone unintentionally fed them something poisonous or underfed them while they were confined and exposed to something poisonous. If your hens have only a little space to roam around, and a small area of grass and greenery, they will very soon have eaten everything that is green. Chickens enjoy eating edibles from this layer of the garden immensely. For example ivy, laurel, box and conifers shouldn’t get devoured. Dock leaves get eaten as a last resort, and my hens don’t go for yarrow but some hens may eat it. My hens love following me around when I am digging the vegetable garden and are practically under my fork as I turn the soil and they grab the worms. I grow herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers in my garden alongside my hens.Vegetable-growing works well with hens. Tomato, pepper and eggplant leaves As members of the nightshade family, they contain Solanine, just like potatoes, so you should try to keep your chickens off your plants. The following likes and dislikes are based on my own experiences: To a large extent, what hens will eat in your garden depends on how much access to grassy areas they have. I found these in my compost bin and my chickens love them. Is it possible to feed soaked rice to chickens? I don’t see Black Solider Fly Larvae on your list of things they can eat?