The 5 Strangest Foods You Can Feed Your Flock

Good Morning

Let’s raise a toast to our beloved chickens.

Without which:

• Bacon and eggs would be only bacon.

• We would have a nice clean, unsoiled patio.

• We would never experience the hilarious antics and genuine companionship that these fluffy-butted friends provide us.

This week we are highlighting 5 of the strangest foods that you can actually feed your chickens (with the weekly memes for dessert)

Let’s dig in.

Top 5 Strangest Foods You Can Feed Your Chickens

Disclaimer: I shouldn’t have to preface this, but I will anyway. 

By all means you do not NEED to feed your chickens any of these foods, and if you do it should always be a supplement to their normal food, never a replacement.

The best food you can offer your chickens is always an optimized, normal layer feed mix with 24/7 access to fresh clean water.

With that said, we all like a lil’ variety in our lives, right?

Here are the top 5 strangest foods that you can feed to your chickens, all of which we have actually fed to our chickens at one point or another!

1. Leftover Meat & Bones

No matter how hard you try, you can never quite pick off the last bit of steak from the bone, turkey off the leg, or lamb off the shank.

But your chickens can.

Remember, chickens are opportunistic omnivores, and will happily accept any meaty morsel that crosses it’s path, whether it’s a frog, lizard, insect, or other unfortunate soul.

You’ll also find they will absolutely go berzerk over leftover meat, whether it’s shaved off the bone or provided to them on the bone.

This includes meats like T-bone steak, lamb chops, pork ribs, roast ham, and even turkey or chicken carcasses (not starting a moral debate, however!).

One of our chickens, NeNe, literally chases our dog Bruno around the yard trying to get a peck at the bone he’s trying to enjoy.

2. Chili Peppers

Some people are absolutely addicted to spicy food (me included), but what many chicken owners don’t know is that chickens don’t actually experience the sensation of “spicy foods” quite like we do.

You see, the all-too-familiar burning sensation of spice actually occurs when the compound within most chili peppers, called “capsaicin” meets our receptor TRPV1.

Now, I’m not one to get technical, so I won’t. But, the long story short is that chickens don’t actually have the receptor TRPV1.

The result? Your chickens don’t actually experience “spice”. They will happily chow down on almost any type of chili pepper, seeds, and all - without experiencing any harmful effects of the spice, let alone even tasting it!

Plus, feeding chili peppers to your flock actually has some pretty unique benefits:

3. Hot Dogs

Hot Dogs? Now you’re getting silly.

We very well may be, but in moderation, there is literally nothing wrong with feeding your chickens leftover cooked hotdogs.

Watch these chickens literally go crazy for a hot dog here. It’s hilarious!

Although I wouldn’t make it a habit, if you’ve got a few leftover hotdogs that will otherwise go to waste, you can cut them up into small cubes and feed them to your flock as a protein-filled treat, or mix them in with a weekly chicken scrap meal!

4. Carved Pumpkins

It’s almost Halloween. You know what that means!

Carving pumpkins.

But, the morning after, don’t let these otherwise incredibly nutritious fruits (yes, pumpkins are fruit) go to waste!

Your chickens will absolutely love you for sharing the festivities with them. So long as you haven’t painted your pumpkins and you’re sure they haven’t gone moldy, give them a second life by feeding them to your chooks!

5. Tea

You may have heard of adding apple cider vinegar to your chicken’s waterer, maybe even adding electrolytes.

But, I bet you haven’t ever considered adding tea leaves to your chicken’s waterer!

Of course, I’m not suggesting you pour your chickens a cup of tea as you would drink it. But, adding a few loose green, black, or herbal tea leaves to your chicken’s waterer can provide some pretty unique benefits to your flock:

You can read here for more info.

Memes For Dessert

See You Next Week!

Thanks for coming along today – we love having you as part of our community.

Being close to other chicken-addicts makes me feel much less “Crazy Chicken Daddy” and helps me justify spending more time with my chickens.

Speaking of which, I”m going to see them right now.

See you next week,

Blake,
BFL’s Daily Dozen.