Top Food For Hens?, What do yours like? Options

[tigerseye]

Our bantams are growing well now (still no eggs ) and they make me laugh with their funny ways. I love how they are suspicious of anything new in the pen, they circle it, peck at it suspiciouly then run off

So far their favourite foods are:

Fresh grass
Apples (sliced, if you please)
Cucumbers
Butternut squash (they go mad for this)
Mini peppers
Trailing lobelia flowers (found that out by accident )
Bread (try to limit this though)
The green bits off cauliflower
Went mad for the tops off strawberries (the little green bit -caylick?)

They don't mind green cabbage and sprout leaves, but won't eat whole sprouts and hate couliflower heads. They also ate a cheese and tomato roll I lobbed in once. Courgette is OK but we had a glut and I think they got as sick of them as we did!

They love the corn we give them as a treat but are picky with the pellets.

What do yours love?

[057gemstorm]

pasta, and mice, they kill mice then run off and hide them and definately won't share. Fortunately they don't find mice very often.

[doggroomer]

My Sister's hens love spaghetti.

Chris

[Hannah W]

spagetti and sweetcorn -cans and cans of fresh sweetcorn!

[tigerseye]

Eww mice

[ceri1]

Mine love all sorts, their favourite is mealworms, but really they should be eating pellets as their main food (especially if you want them to lay eggs) so i try to only give them treats late in the afternoon (mean mummy! )

[jakeysmum]

Mine will eat anything, slugs and worms are popular, it looks like a benny hill sketch,soaked bread, porridge cooked veg, corn of any description, mealworms but they lay best when it's just pellets.
I went a bit mad when i first had them, at the moment i get 3-4 eggs from 6 hens with just pellets and whatever they dig up themselves. My two silkie bantams are rubbish egg layers, they lay for about two weeks then stop for ages, the best layers are the ex batt girls.

[tigerseye]

Ours won't eat slugs and worms Apparently we have the wrong type of slugs (Spanish) which are bitter. We have silkie x wyandotte bantams and they are just coming up to laying age, but due to the season I don't know that they will. Lazy cows

This post has been edited by tigerseye: 16th Nov 2011, 9:42 am

[Rianna]

Mine havent laid yet either . They do eat their pellets but are very tame so prefer us humans to feed them rather than self service

Mine love anything that a human has in its hand especially home made apple cake:P

Their absolute fav is mini corn on cobs and also porridge made with my goats milk for supper Mealworms also lovely and we stuff them into fir cones to get them to work at it

If I am cooking my gluten free pasta or wild rice I save a bit for their afternoon snack.

I know I am spoiling them but it is all natural stuff and I them.

[tigerseye]

We haven't tried porridge yet but so many hens seem to like it we'll have to Can't be neglecting them.

[Rianna]

I give it to them in the evening with a few crushed up mealworms but it is also an easy way to get them to eat their wormer powder

Still no eggs Maybe they are waiting until Xmas day as a pressie to me .

[K9LOVE]

I got an egg off my ex batts the day they arrived, then a break for bout a month as they got their feathers in and now laying 1-2 eggs a day

Fav foods def pasta, rice, cake crumbs. I give mine the dross in the cereal packets.

[amie]

I give it to them in the evening with a few crushed up mealworms but it is also an easy way to get them to eat their wormer powder

Still no eggs Maybe they are waiting until Xmas day as a pressie to me .

Im only getting 2 a day out of my 4 girls


They are moulting now and I believe their energy is going into making new feathers.


Girls are just having Porridge and Stew they are loving it

[nikkiwoo]

Warm porridge with added mealworms is a favourite here. My OH also makes them a veg stew with peelings & manky bits every few days. They also love spaghetti chopped into short pieces & rice. We have lazy chooks & they only like stuff that is easy eat so my OH juliennes carrots for them

Our silkies are awful layers, 1 egg every other day between the 3 of them but they look pretty Hopefully the 2 bantam babies will start laying soon, I want to see what their eggs look like

[nikkiwoo]

And, apparently pasta swirls with tomato sauce is also very yummy