chicken feed?

[archeraddict]

Apart from the prepared feed, what do chickens eat? I've just got two hens and a cockerel. What can I give them for variety and as a treat? I've read that they eat weeds, but what sort are safe - they can have as many nettles and thistles as they like from my point of view, but is that ok?!

[BeatySwalls]

maggots

[tamborine]

they're seed eaters & grit for their crops. Wheat/corn ears for staple diet & slops for fattening.

[ruthann58]

are you able to let them out ,they will scratch about and find themselves all sorts of bits and pieces

[wildwood]

If with prepared feed you mean the manufactured pelleted or crumbled diet, it is not really necesarry to feed them anything else as everything they need is included.

But, seeing chickens walk around the garden scratching and picking at everything makes for most of the fun of having chickens in the first place. Any eggs is just a bonus.

They do like a peck at weeds like chickweed and green vegies, but what they go mad for is worms and insects. Some of the fiestier breeds like Old English Game will even chase and eat mice.

[slinkycat]

Chickens will eat just about anything, so if you have any prized plants in your garden, be warned you may not have them for much longer! (as I have found out over the last year) And yet they haven't even made a dent on the dandelions!
I feed mine a lot of kitchen scraps (not meat though) but don't give them stale bread unless you soak it in water first, apparently it can swell up in their crops.
They are particularly fond of left over cooked rice or pasta, tinned sweetcorn and grapes, it still cracks me up when I see one of them charging up the garden with a beakful of spaghetti and the others in hot pursuit!
Have fun!

[spudqueen]

If you're feeding them mash or pellets you could also feed them some corn, you should be able to buy it where you buy your other poultry food. If they have access to the garden they will eat all sorts of weeds, grass and slugs. The greenery makes the yolks in their eggs VERY yellow! You can also feed them ham, at least my friend does.