10 Best and Healthy Treats for Chickens -the treats chickens can eat

If you have backyard friends in your house, you must be knowing how carefully they are brought up. From their living to health, habits to the house, everything needs to be perfect, especially if you are dealing with chickens. They are very moody and tend to get irritated if not treated the way they want to be. Other than all the stuff, taking care of chicken’s diet is the utmost priority of the everywhere backyard raiser. However, you can always have some treats for chickens occasionally. The treat for chicken would help in avoiding the boredom of having the same food for the little fluffy fellows.

If you fail to allure the chickens with treats, they might get into the habit of feather pecking, which is certainly dangerous for the bird’s health. However, treat would be only 2 to 4 percent of the actual diet; it only makes around quarter cup feed for one chicken and that even for the week.

You must be thinking what to feed chickens as treat? Health, safety and freshness would be your utmost concern. The excerpt guides you about best 10 treats that your birds would enjoy to the fullest:

 1: Lush green veggies:

You can serve the chickens with lettuce, cabbage and other soft leafy green veggies. However, make sure you do not give them anything cold. It is ideal feed to hens.

2: Solid vegetables:

You do not have to shop for special or new vegetables for them – simply serve the leftover dinner’s vegetables in the morning to chickens. They would love it. However, do not over-do any of the items. Cauliflower, Brussels, cabbage and onions should be given in limited quantities.

3: Garden and Lawn weeds:

Weeds have higher nutritional value, but make sure the ones you present to the chickens do not have any elements of pesticides. Wash the weed properly before serving it to the chickens. Make sure you consult the chicken veterinarian before that – never serve such a weed, which is unfamiliar to you. The most common weeds are chickweed, crabgrass, dandelions and thistles.

4: Squash and pumpkins:

Chickens have a special love for the jack-o-lantern from the Halloween – jokes apart, pumpkins have great nutritional value for chickens. Worming chickens with pumpkin is also a great practice.

5: Fruits:

For wormy chickens, fresh fruits are a great treat. Make sure when you serve the chickens with fruits, they are washed and seedless. The fruits with seeds may cause chickens loose motions or other stomachaches. Look for soft fruits and give preference to sweeter ones; citrus fruits may not be liked much.

6: Meat:

If you plan to provide chicken with meat or bone scraps, make sure they are well cooked. It is ideal to have some meat on the bones so that they can pick it and have fun. Do not leave the bones in the coop for more than 24 hours – chickens may develop some infection by having them around.

7: Eggs and shells:

It is time to make the most of cracked and old eggs. Simply give them back to the chickens in cooked form – make sure it is crushed well, so that you do not intrigue the chickens having their own eggs when you are not around.

8: Dairy and milk products:

Who said chickens stay away from the dairy products? They love cheese, sour milk and the simplest milk too. They would even have it if you mix some other liquid mixture in it. However, make sure you consult chicken veterinarian before doing it. It may otherwise cause a decrease in egg production.

9: Starch products

Now you must not be worrying about what chickens can eat – everything is crystal clear. You must serve pasta, rice and spaghetti in properly cooked manner. You can even serve the leftovers of the last night – even some sauce mixed dish would be fine for chickens.

10: Potatoes:

Never ever, feed your chickens with raw potatoes – not even the peels. The roots may be poisonous, so make sure you remove them as well. Simply put the potatoes and the peels into boiling water for 10 minutes and then serve them to the chickens when cool on temperature.