what "greens" can chickens eat?

I've got 5 hens (including 2 bantams) and a cockerel, had them a few months now. Never kept them before, so I'm wondering exactly what green stuff they can eat?

out of the garden I give them grass, chickweed, shepherds purse, plantain, groundsel, sowthistle (non prickly), dandelion, they seem to like a little bindweed but i'm worried it might be a bit poisonous? I'm just going by what rabbits and guinea pigs eat, which I'm more familiar with.

I'm getting used to their likes/dislikes of kitchen fruit & veg. I've heard too many spud peelings gives them the runs, so I dont give them many, though they seem to like them. I think I gave them too much lettuce as their poo turned black and they sat about not looking happy and didnt lay any eggs for a couple of days, so I know now not to give them too much of that again.

Are there any more plants (weed wise) that I can give them? or anything else I've missed that chickens really like? TIA

 

Chickens are fairly good at knowing what not to eat and will avoid anything really nasty - foxgloves are supposed to be posionous but ours devoured a newly emerging plant one winter with no ill effects.

Cooked veg doesn't seem to go down very well with them, but buy a cheap cabbage and skewer it in their run and they'll spend hours tearing bits off it - alternatively hang from the run roof on a piece of string, just above chicken head height so they have to jump up to get at it. When we buy a cauliflower, the edible bits get cut out and the green parts go for the chickens. Sweetcorn, either from a tin or on the cob hardly touchs the sides and grapes are a treat or bribe (delete as applicable).

Uncooked potato peelings aren't a great idea, but a few cooked ones left over from dinner won't do them any harm. Rhubarb leaves are a no no. An apple, pear or banana that's going very soft or has got inedible will also prove worthy. Grass clippings in small amounts, as I find once the initial excitement of them being thrown into the run wears off, get left and end up a bit of a mess.

If you have the time and space, let them into the garden under supervision for a stroll. They'll enjoy the grass and if there are any bugs around, will eat them. Just keep them out of the borders - tender plant shoots and heads are tempting and what isn't eaten will be scratched and trodden on. Ours ignore bindweed, ground elder and nettles. 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. One of ours, raised from a chick tried a bit when young and hasn't touched it since.

 

yes, i am aware rhubarb leaves are poisonous. we dont have any in the garden anyway. nor foxgloves, but that surprised me that yours ate it.

they usually have our dinner left overs, but ive noticed theyre not keen on the cooked veg. never mind, the wild birds eat it a couple of days later when we move the run lol

oooooooooo didnt think of bananas/pears etc gone soft. i've been putting them in the compost!

my hubby told me that they know what NOT to eat, seems he was right! we're planning to let them onto our vegetable garden in the spring, to clear it of bugs etc before we put our veg in. and i must admit when i weed the garden, any worms, leatherjackets etc get fed to them and they love it! oh and house spiders *shudder*. i even bought some maggots for them to nosh on hehe i dont know who enjoyed it more, them or me!

thank you for your advice, i shall definitely get them a cabbage/cauli or something to nibble on. we do move the run every couple of days so they get fresh grass. i love the way they rake out the moss and daisies (tho they dont eat them)

 

That's an excellent idea - a friend does that in winter with her chickens and they love it. She also grows a veritable plantation of sweetcorn and once it gets high enough, lets the chickens into it, where they clear any bugs and small weeds where she cannot get to.

 

lol clever!

 

Bindweed seeds used to be used in ancient times as a mild hallucinagen, but that was before people released they were quite poisonous. I believe that was around the time that deadly nightshade was used for similar results.

I read an article once about some chickens in a farm in Greece that were producing the best eggs in the area, despite paying no interest to their feed. Scientists even took an interest because their eggs not only tasted best, but were found to be loaded with Omega 3. After weeks of observation, it was found that the chickens were regularly escaping their enclosure, grazing on the Summer Purslane that was growing wild nearby, then going back home.

A more practical tip would be to do as my dad does. He saves all he fruit and veg peelings and gives them to the chickens, which they devour with gusto.

 

:yho: thats my friday night sorted :rotfl::lollol:

 

I have been told by a few people never to give them uncooked potato of any kind even the peelings as it will make them rather ill. But that's just about the only thing I've been told not to feed them, well apart from chicken that is.

I put my hanging baskets out yesterday but only for a few hours (they hang from the coop and did well over the winter with pansies in them) and only a few hours as they ate anything they could reach so was the end to the last of my lobelia, thankfuly have some spare petunia and they even had a go at my pelagroniums, salvia, fushia and another I can't think of it's name. They didn't even look at the bowl of food.

From experience they'll eat just about anything they come into contact with including the invading bindweed.

My garden is lined with a tree that looks like hawthorn, very spikey, red berries that get everywhere, does anyone know if they'll be ok eating these??

 

I'd never heard that one. My dad's chucks regularly get tattie peelings in their diet, and they all strut about posing in their shiny feathers. I know that raw potatoes in humans can cause stomach cramps because of the excess starch, maybe same for chickens in large quantities, but if they have an abundance of food with plenty of vareity, they will always seek out their favourite first. Start digging a patch of ground over and they will quickly abandon their offerings and come over to see if you've exposed any juicy earthworms.

I've never noticed chickens eating hawthorns, probably because they are usually out of reach for the poor birds. Hawthorns are quite edible to humans though, and most thinks we can eat they can eat. They only thing is though the stones in the middle are mildly poisonous to us, but most birds that can reach them seem to eat them without problems. Hawthorn leaves are very much edible to pretty much anything. I'm sure the chickens would eat them, and humans can too. The young leaves taste a bit nutty and are quite palatable.

 

hawthorn leaves are good for menstrual cramps, apparently. in humans lol not chickens

 

They are also reputed to regulate blood pressure and help keep the artery walls from hardening with age (in humans).

 

I'll pass, thanks lol

 

If your chickens are on the "lawn" all the time, even though you're moving their run every couple of days, the ground will eventually get sour (chicken droppings are acidic) and even start to smell. To counteract this, rake up the mess of moss, scratched grass and droppings, but you can also lime the lawn to neutralise it. Just make sure you either water the lime in or do it before it rains. I did our run (non grass) last winter and so far it's not smelling. Ideal conditions are in the evening, when they've gone to roost and you know it's going to rain overnight.

 

hmm, i do rake (when i can be arsed lol usually i let the mower do it) but i didnt know about the lime. so once its watered in, the chickens can go back onto it?

oh and i forgot to say that my chooks LOVE those sycamore helecopter seeds while theyre green. a lod fell into their run in the high winds and they went mental over them

 

Yes.