EggCartons.com Roost: July 2012

I am new to having chickens. Mine are only 4 weeks old, but seem to be getting larger and larger by the day. Between them and my human sons, I am afraid they will eat me out of my home. The rock band (my 4 chickens) eat what seems to be a lot of chicken feed. I use Manna Pro® Medicated Complete Crumbles for Chicks purchased it here at www.EggCartons.com. I give them one cup twice a day, and it's gone within seconds of feeding time.

I have been bringing them outside 3-4 times a week for
field trips to the garden. I found that they love pincher bugs, (Earwigs). (EW!) So, I open up the garden, lift up some wood and the chickens go crazy. They get so excited to catch the creepy, crawling insects. Henry-Rollins pulled a Karate Kid move the other day and caught a fly right of the sky with his beak. These birds are terribly funny to watch. After they started going after the bugs, I asked, what can "teenage chicks" eat other than chicken food? Turns out, a few things. And when they get older, they will eat almost anything! I did some research and found somethings that are good to feed them, and some not advisable. Please share your insight and chicken dining recipes here on our blog!

Enjoy! ツ

Hen-dy, Creative Department

Good to eat:

Treat	Type	General Opinions
Apples	Raw and applesauce	Apple seeds contain cyanide, but not in sufficient quantities to kill.
Asparagus	Raw or cooked	Okay to feed, but not a favorite.
Bananas	Without the peel	High in potassium, a good treat.
Beans	Well-cooked only, never dry	Also, greenbeans.
Beets	Greens also
Berries	All kinds	A treat, especially strawberries.
Breads	All kinds - good use for stale bread or rolls	Feed starches in moderation.
Broccoli & Cauliflower	Put in hen treat ball	Tuck into a hen treat ball and they will pick at it all day.
Cabbage & Brussels Sprouts	Whole head -	Hang a whole cabbage from their coop ceiling in winter so they have something to play with and greens to eat.
Carrots	Raw and cooked	They like carrot foliage too.
Cereal	Cheerios, etc	Avoid highly sugared cereal
Cheese	Including cottage cheese	Feed in moderation, fatty but a good source of protein and calcium
Corn	On cob and canned, raw and cooked	.
Crickets (alive)	Can be bought at bait or pet-supply stores	Great treat – provides protein and it’s fun to watch the chickens catch them.
Cucumbers		Let mature for yummy seeds and flesh.
Eggplant	They prefer cooked
Flowers	Make sure they haven't been treated with pesticides, such as florist flowers might be	Marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies, etc.
Fruit	Pears, peaches, cherries, apples
Grains	Bulgar, flax, niger, wheatberries,etc	.
Grapes	Seedless only For chicks, cutting them in half makes it easier for them to swallow	Great fun - the cause of many entertaining "chicken keepaway" games.
Grits	Cooked
"Leftovers"	Only feed your chickens that which is still considered edible by humans, don't feed anything spoiled, moldy, oily, salty or unidentifiable
Lettuce / Kale	Any leafy greens, spinach collards, chickweed included	A big treat, depending on how much other greenery they have access to.
Mealworms	Available at pet supply stores or on the internet.	Favorite treat, probably the most foolproof treat on the books.
Melon	Cantelope, etc	Both seeds and flesh are good chicken treats.
Oatmeal	Raw or cooked	Cooked is nutritionally better.
Pasta / Macaroni	Cooked spaghetti, etc	A favorite treat, fun to watch them eat it, but not much nutrition.
Peas	Peas and pea tendrils and flowers
Peppers (bell)	Raw or cooked	Positive feedback on these.
Pomegranates	Raw	Seeds are a big treat.
Popcorn	Popped, no butter, no salt
Potatos / Sweet Potatos/Yams	Cooked only - avoid green parts of peels!	Starchy, not much nutrition
Pumpkins / Winter Squash	Raw or cooked	Both seeds and flesh are a nutritious treat.
Raisins	Right out of the box or in breads
Rice	Cooked only	Pilaf mixes are okay too, plain white rice has little nutrition.
Scratch	Scratch is cracked corn with grains (such as wheat, oats and rye) mixed in	Scratch is a treat for cold weather, not a complete feed. Toss it on the ground and let them scratch for it for something to do.
Sprouts	Wheat and oat sprouts are great	Good for greens in mid-winter.
Summer Squash	Yellow squash and zucchini	Yellow squash not a huge favorite, but okay to feed.
Sunflower Seeds	Sunflower seeds with the shell still on is fine to feed, as well as with the shell off	A good treat, helps hens lay eggs and grow healthy feathers.
Tomatos	Raw and cooked.
Turnips	Cooked	Not a huge favorite
Watermelon	Served cold, it can keep chickens cool and hydrated during hot summers	Seeds and flesh are both okay to feed.
Yogurt	Plain or flavored	A big favorite and good for their digestive systems. Plain is better.

Not good to eat:

Raw green potato peels	Toxic substance called Solanine.
Anything real salty	Can cause salt poisoning in small bodies such as chickens.
Citrus
Dried or undercooked Beans	Raw, or dry beans, contain a poison called hemaglutin which is toxic to birds.
Avocado Skin and Pit	Skin and pit have low levels of toxicity.
Raw eggs	You don’t want to introduce your chickens to the tastiness of eggs which may be waiting to be collected in the nestboxes.
Candy, Chocolate, Sugar	Their teeth will rot… No, it’s just bad for their systems, and chocolate can be poisonous to most pets.

So, it's EggCartons.com. Paul (Owner) and his wife Pauline have chickens. Sherry (office managing extraordinaire) also has chickens....

I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be a proud chicken mother also.

I am human mother, with human children, and all out just plain old animal lover to no end. (Actually, the chickens would be the end, no more pets after these little ladies) So, we carefully incubated them in our CA-115 Incubator in the office. 22 days later, Hen-ry Rollins arrived, my first baby was born! I rushed my little boys (humans) into the office to meet with Sherry to show them our newest addition. The kids were oohing, ahhhing, cuddling, and loving Henry. Pat Hen-a-tar was next. While Henry was drying off, Pat was exhausted from hatching. It was truly an amazing experience from the beginning. We had 13 eggs hatch and 12 of them made it. I took 4 home to brood, and Sherry has the rest she will be brooding until it's time for them to go to their forever home...

I have to say, I have given birth to actual human children, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Watching the eggs, day in and day out, anxiously waiting, candling, talking to them, and hearing those first peeps was just overwhelming sense of happiness. My chickens are named Hen-ry Rollins, Pat Hen-a-tar, Stevie Chicks and Glenn D. Henn. They are all adjusting, and had their first time out my yard over the weekend. What a joy to have! I highly recommend hatching your eggs in the CA-115 incubator with The Basic Hatching Package by Fall Harvest Products includes a Circulated Air Incubator, #FHP-CA115 & an Egg Turner, # FHP-ET115. If this is your first time hatching eggs this package is exactly what you need to get started. Ours was done with great success!

Enjoy! ツ

Hen-dy, Creative Department