10 Wrong Foods Chickens Should Not Eat- (And Maybe You’re Still Giving Them)

Foods Chickens Should Not Eat- Things You Need To Know

Before we get to what chickens should not eat, let’s discuss what a chicken can eat. Understanding what a chicken can consume will assist you much better knowing what they can not and how to utilize those “lost” foods resourcefully.

What A Chicken Can Eat

Chickens can consume basically anything … and whatever!

Now from to time, you’ll face the exceptions. We’ve had some chickens that would not consume greens, or would not consume sunflower seeds, and things like that. They’re the unusual case.

Besides those choosy eaters, there isn’t much a chicken will not consume. They like seeds, grains, grass, veggies, fruits, nuts, food scraps, worms, herbs, and bugs (either as pest control for your homestead, or you can grow various type of pests for your chickens).

All of those foods noted above are CHICKEN FOOD. If you offer your chickens access to and grow numerous sources of food, you can save so much cash and harvest much less pricey eggs (with more nutrition). We later on discovered it’s best to offer your chickens greens from the first day. When they get older your chickens will like and consume them. (And yes, it works!).

What Foods Chickens Should NOT Eat

There are numerous posts online that inform you what foods not to feed your chickens. Some says citrus is all right, others state no. One site I discovered stated the seeds ought to be gotten rid of from apple cores prior to feeding them to your hens.

Let’s see the following foods and what to do with them through our holistically minded approaches. How can we make the very best sense of what people are informing us online and not invest 50 additional minutes a day stressing over the food scraps in our chicken bin?

Small amounts … The number 1 Holistic Approach.

Many times the greatest issue with the list of foods listed below is not that they have no nutrients, however if they consume excessive of them frequently would do more harm than good. The very best thing you can do is ensure your chickens have a great diet plan and enough variety of other healthy foods.

God Designed Chickens With more Brains Than People Realize.

If you believe about chickens in the wild they would have known what’s great for them and what’s not. Or they would all be dead if they’ll eat poisonous plants. Chicken instincts usually know the foods/plants that are bad or dangerous for them and they instinctly keep away or avoid.

You need to understand what your chickens need and what’s bad for them. Your chickens aren’t in the wild. You may harm your chickens if you make mistakes and end up killing them.

The greatest mistake you might make would be to not have enough other great food for your chickens. When you only have just the foods/plants that are bad for them and the chickens are starving, you are forcing them to consume what they would not naturally pick to eat– or let them starve.

If you are caring for your chickens and feed them enough they should not feel the need to consume much of the foods that aren’t good for them.. You do not need to stress over keeping an eye on every small little thing they consume.

Below are the list of foods you do not need to feed them. We do have some doubts for the one we feed our chickens. Keep in mind however, our hens have access to a numerous range of other foods like grass, pasture, seeds, bugs, and presently still some commercial feed. These types of food below are not among their staple food.

 

• Chocolates

  
  Research showed that when fed to pet dogs, Theobromine that is found in chocolates is found to be very harmful. It does not look particular that it would trigger issues in chickens, however it’s a good idea to keep away from them.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

This one should not be an issue, you must be consuming all of it!:-RRB- If chocolates are bad for you just give it to your friends.

 

• Citrus

  Some folks feed citrus to their chickens, others state it’s bad for them. From what we have actually discovered you should not feed citrus in huge amounts, again moderation is the key here.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

We compost citrus peels with the chickens and we’ve never ever had any concerns. We go though a LOT of citrus in the winter season and have lots of citrus peels out in the garden compost by the chickens in January. The chickens do not appear to actually consume them.

• Avocados.

  
  Once again, some say you can feed them to chickens, some say you can’t. Research showed that avocados contain Persin that is definitely bad for birds.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

We compost the peels and pits. Yes, the chickens have gain access to and scratch through the garden compost, however we’ve never ever had issues. I believe I ‘d keep away from feeding the hens avocados in excess, however when a few of them make it into the garden compost bin, even a few every day, I do not worry about it.

• Coffee.

  Coffee consists of caffeine which is stated to be bad for chickens.

How to Dispose of Coffee Holistically:.

Given that the chickens do not get much and we’ve not had any concerns I’m not going to worry about it. You can discard a moderate quantity of liquid coffee in garden compost too.

• Spinach, Rhubarb, Tomato & Eggplant Leaves.

  
  Spinach and Rhubarb is harmful to chickens and people– unless prepared appropriately. Eggplants and tomatoes are in the nightshade household and their leaves and green or unripe fruit have the capacity of being harmful to chickens. One website made it sound like the fruit was bad, however the ripe fruit from these plants are great for chickens.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

I think you can toss it or compost it if you ‘d like. Some of our chickens have actually had access to our tomato plants and didn’t consume the leaves, so we have not had to deal with that. It’s excellent to be conscious of.

 

• Raw Potatoes & Green Potato Skins

  
  Solanine is the toxic substance you need to get away from raw potatoes. It’s not great for chickens.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

If they are cooked, I’ll throw potatoes in the garden compost or to the chickens. Otherwise be safe and put them in the garbage.

 

• Uncooked Beans & Rice.

  
  Cooked and sprouted beans are good for your chickens. Rice is likewise not suggested to feed to your chickens unless it’s cooked.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

We actually have not ever had a requirement to dispose of them. Cooked beans and rice are great to feed to your chickens.

 

• Apple Seeds

  
  We have not had any issues with our chickens consuming apple seeds and I understand numerous individuals feed their chickens apple seeds and have no issues. Some folks believe it’s good to avoid feeding them to chickens because it contains cyanide that is toxic for your birds.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

I throw the apple cores with seeds to the compost or to the chickens. As long they are fed in small amounts, it would be safe. (If you have a lot of apple seeds, this would be a great time to just throw it in the garbage instead of giving it to your chickens.

• Raw Eggs

  Never ever feed raw eggs to chickens! They’ll break and consume their other eggs– the ones you desire to eat.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

Sell it to a nearby grocery store if you have lots. Or share it with your friends and neighbors to eat.

• Moldy & Junk Food

  Moldy and junk food is toxic for chickens. Do not feed either to your flock.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

Yes, the chickens might get at it in small amounts, however I have not had problems when giving in small amounts.

• Chicken, Meat & Butchering Scraps.

  
  Some say it’s bad to feed your chickens meat, however God made them to consume meat. Bugs are an excellent example of “meat” that chickens love to eat

As a basic guideline, I attempt to keep away from feeding big quantities of chicken meat to our flock, due to the fact of diseases that might be present in it. They might get a little chicken from our food scraps, however when we butcher chickens we do not feed all those butchering remains to our hens

If you’re feeding meat, make certain that all of it gets consumed right away. Your animals can get ill or perhaps die from consuming spoiled meat.

How to Dispose of Them Holistically:.

If you do not feed the meat or butchering scraps to your chickens you can feed them to your pet dogs, cats and even pigs (although, there once again is another argument).