Perhaps you're wondering just what do chickens eat?
The kids and I made a list of all the foods we feed to our hens. They also roam free in our backyard and eat whatever they please like my entire asparagus fern, the lower leaves of my potted Japanese maple tree (photo above), insects, and worms. Fortunately, the vegetable garden is in the front yard, in an area the hens don't go. Here is our comprehensive list as of January 1, 2010.
lettuce
watermelon/melon
bread
tortillas
corn on the cob
carrot greens
swiss chard
cucumber
zucchini
yogurt
beet greens
collard greens
bok choy
cabbage
oats/oatmeal
avocado
crushed egg shells (calcium supplement)
oyster shells (calcium supplement)
quinoa
scrambled eggs
millet
flax seeds
mealworms
crickets
kale
banana
bamboo leaves
tomatoes
persimmons
apple cores
sunflower seeds
"scratch" (cracked corn, barley, cracked wheat)
laying crumbles chicken food (corn, soy, wheat, vitamins, and minerals)
Usually, the hens just eat their chicken food and whatever they find in the yard, but we feed them scratch, black sunflower seeds, and flax seeds when we put them in their coop in the evenings. They get other treats/scraps when it is on sale, when we have excess in our refrigerator, or when they need to spend more time in their coop.
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