Snack Time!!

 

 

    Who doesn't love snack time? I sure do! The rule of thumb when giving chickens a snack is to not feed them anything that you would not eat yourself. That means if you have something that has expired it is suggested to not feed that to your hens.  I was doing some research to see what types of snacks that chickens could eat and if there was anything in particular that is not good for them. So far, what I have seen is they can pretty much have anything. I would not advise you go out and get them a snickers bar, but giving them fruits, vegetables and even scrambled eggs would be delicious treats that they would enjoy. I would give the girls scrambled eggs every once in a while when they were babies to make sure they were getting enough protein. Recently, I found that one of their favorite snacks are mealworms. You can buy live mealworms to feed them but that freaked me out so we got the dried ones. They come in a bag that you can purchase at your local pet or tractor supply store. They are obsessed with them. There are several different varieties that you can buy when it comes to mealworms which I found interesting. They are like the potato chips for chickens haha! There are mealworms that are plain, or you can purchase a mix. Mealworms with corn, mealworms with sunflower seeds etc.

   I also use these bag of mealworms to my advantage as well. I taught the girls that as soon as I start shaking the bag they all start running towards it and then I sprinkle a bunch on the ground and it turns into a feeding frenzy. It is hilarious watching them all sprinting over to the sounds of the shaking bag. They come flying around the corner or down the ramp of the coop to get a taste of their favorite treat. When we first fed it to them we would put some in our hands and let them peck at it but that led to them climbing all over each other and to be honest their pecks hurt a little bit. Placing them on the ground is much easier and creates less of a mess.

What's on your beak Peanut?

  Snacks can also be used as boredom busters. I was doing some looking around on my favorite chicken website Backyard Chickens to try and gather some ideas of what to give them in the Winter since I am assuming they will not want to be outside as much due to the cold. ( I could be proven wrong on this since this will be our first winter with the ladies so stay tuned). However, I read that you can get a head of lettuce and tie it inside the coop with a string so it hangs and the chickens will peck at it for hours. It is a nice treat and a way to occupy their time so they do not begin to pick on each other. Another one I would like to try is putting feed or a chicken “snack mix” into a water bottle with holes that they can peck at. Kind of like those treat toys you can purchase for your dog. The ones that they pat around and bite and eventually a treat falls out. I want to do something similar to that since they love to scratch their feet and peck at things. You can mix anything together and put it in there. I was thinking about corn, raisins, maybe dried fruit. I also recently purchased a treat square. It has sunflower seeds and mealworms compacted together so the chickens can peck and scratch at it and break it apart. I have not give it to the girls yet but I am fairly certain they are going to love it!

They all come together for snack time!

  Now I do not give the chickens snacks every day because I do not want their healthy lifestyles to become unhealthy by being over fed. However, every few days they get some mealworms or left over fruit and veggies. We will want to monitor the amount of snacks they get in the winter if they are not getting as much exercise because that could lead to other problems with their legs, overall health etc. Chickens are already known to consume more food and water in the winter as a means to help keep themselves warm without snacks included.  

    Also, when giving them treats make sure you size them down so they are easy for the chickens to swallow and digest. They get so excited trying to eat it they almost swallow the food whole so make sure it is portioned small enough that the do not have any issues. Happy Snacking!