I usually keep a lot of fruit at home for when the grandkids are here, but rather than some of it go to waste, can I give the chickens fresh pineapple or oranges mixed in with some lettce or tomato etc for a treat? Im always wary of adding something different to their diet without checking first.
Can chickens eat fresh Pineapple or oranges?
- Thread starter cebhh
- Start date
Lucylou
New member
Oranges definately, its good for them, vitamin C & all that! Mine peck all the flesh out of the skins. Pineapple I'm not sure about.
Mooner
New member
Hiya - I regularly give mine fresh pineapple. I also put out the top, base, and skin aswell and they seem to love it. they don't leave much behind other than the bare skins. I also do this with the skin and pips in melons as well as the flesh. I expect you already know they love grapes and bananas too! In fact, there's not much in the fruit and veg line that mine won't eat, other than onions, leeks and celery!
I think they are usually pretty good at ignoring stuff that they don't like, or theybthink is harmful to them, and just as with dogs, different chickens dislike different things. My hens won't touch spinach but I know a lot of people say they feed it regularly and it's popular,
The main thing is to avoid giving them stuff which they will like but which is high in fat, salt or sugar, i.e. human food scraps other than fruit or veg.
The main thing is to avoid giving them stuff which they will like but which is high in fat, salt or sugar, i.e. human food scraps other than fruit or veg.
Tim
Administrator
A couple of years ago, after I added Rhubarb leaves to my list of 'Poisonous plants' for chickens, my lot decided they would teach me a lesson and eat all of the new growth of rhubarb leaves in the garden 
I was worried at the time but they were fine.
What is interesting about this is I've never seen them touch the older leaves - but then researching a little, it turns out that the Oxalic acid is much stronger later in the year when the leaves mature...
So do they know this and if so how? It's not like they have been bred for thousands of years with access to rhubarb leaves and learned not to eat them. I'm guessing it must be through taste and smell.
I was worried at the time but they were fine.
What is interesting about this is I've never seen them touch the older leaves - but then researching a little, it turns out that the Oxalic acid is much stronger later in the year when the leaves mature...
So do they know this and if so how? It's not like they have been bred for thousands of years with access to rhubarb leaves and learned not to eat them. I'm guessing it must be through taste and smell.
They seem to be enjoying it all. I cut up and mixed some pineapple bits with some tangerines and cucumber. I've also put the top and the skin out and will check later if they go for that.
Occasionally I put a savoy cabbage out ( hanging from a string and raised a bit higher than head level)for them to jump up and peck at, and they seem to make short work of that too!
Occasionally I put a savoy cabbage out ( hanging from a string and raised a bit higher than head level)for them to jump up and peck at, and they seem to make short work of that too!
Another question... should I still be giving the chickens corn when they are getting some other type of treat... a couple still hover around me looking for the corn, I'm sure... I have been doing so, but wonder if I am overfeeding them. (They look and act very healthy though, and thye only have access to pellets from the feeder in the morning, to hopefully ensure they are getting the nutrients they need. I also am still getting a good quantity of eggs daily (3-5) from 6 chickens.
bantiekeeper
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I think I would still give a little corn in the afternoon to keep them going through the night. 
Corn is fine,me specially in winter as Bantiekeeper says, but you are right about rationing it. Try to give no more than an eggcupful per hen per day. Measure it out into a small continuer the first day, then you will know what their ration will be per day subsequently.
Tim
Administrator
Have a look at this page on feeding chickens:
http://keeping-chickens.me.uk/getting-started/chicken-feed
Or even our page on feeding chickens on poultrykeeper:
http://poultrykeeper.com/keeping-chickens-faq/feeding-chickens-what-feed-chickens
I give my hens corn in the afternoon - roughly a handful each as a treat. When the weather turns cold, you can increase this ration since chickens burn more calories to produce heat in the cold.
http://keeping-chickens.me.uk/getting-started/chicken-feed
Or even our page on feeding chickens on poultrykeeper:
http://poultrykeeper.com/keeping-chickens-faq/feeding-chickens-what-feed-chickens
I give my hens corn in the afternoon - roughly a handful each as a treat. When the weather turns cold, you can increase this ration since chickens burn more calories to produce heat in the cold.
Kalynta
New member
Think my chickens are a little spoilt.... 
I bought wild bird seed for them and they love it, also they get cooked peelings and fruit....
Honey jumps onto my arm like an eagle to get the best bits...
I bought wild bird seed for them and they love it, also they get cooked peelings and fruit....Honey jumps onto my arm like an eagle to get the best bits...
Margaid
Well-known member
I must have really atypical chickens!!
They never seem very bothered about corn - in fact when the come out in the morning they ignore their feed, which is cooked wheat, corn and peas, and scratch around. By the time I take their evening snack of sunflower seeds, mealworms and corn they have usually eaten all the "mash" I've put down in the morning. They fight over the mealworms , then eat the sunflower seeds and next morning they'll probably eat the corn. I cut some grapes in half but they had obviously never had them before and didn't seem keen.
it can be difficullt to tell what they have eaten as I leave them to it until they've gone to bed - but I get "steeple chasing" squirrels that leap through the elcetric netting, and they're out there before I've let the hens out so they may have had the grapes.
Oh well, I'm still getting an egg from Henny Penny!!
They never seem very bothered about corn - in fact when the come out in the morning they ignore their feed, which is cooked wheat, corn and peas, and scratch around. By the time I take their evening snack of sunflower seeds, mealworms and corn they have usually eaten all the "mash" I've put down in the morning. They fight over the mealworms , then eat the sunflower seeds and next morning they'll probably eat the corn. I cut some grapes in half but they had obviously never had them before and didn't seem keen.
it can be difficullt to tell what they have eaten as I leave them to it until they've gone to bed - but I get "steeple chasing" squirrels that leap through the elcetric netting, and they're out there before I've let the hens out so they may have had the grapes.
Oh well, I'm still getting an egg from Henny Penny!!
Wil the eat the wheat, corn and peas if you just give it to them uncooked, Margaid?
Margaid
Well-known member
Yes, the peas and surprisingly the rolled barley both disappear leaving the wheat and corn. I don't put barley in the partially cooked stuff and add the peas when it's hot and before I've strained off the excess water. The idea was to give them a warm mash in the cold morning - but they seldom eat it before it's gone cold.
Yesterday I moved the enclosure because it was on an area which seemed to drain a large part of the field - after rain there was almost a stream running through. Actually I put up the other length of netting, shut them in the house where they had retreated from the wind and rain, moved the field shelter and then we very carefully carried the hen house to it's new position. Because the house and the shelter were in the same relative position there weren't any problems. They came out when it stopped raining and have been merrily scratching away ever since. Henny Penny seems to like to create a small muddy area which obviously stirs up lots of grubs going by the way she pecks at the mud.
Yesterday I moved the enclosure because it was on an area which seemed to drain a large part of the field - after rain there was almost a stream running through. Actually I put up the other length of netting, shut them in the house where they had retreated from the wind and rain, moved the field shelter and then we very carefully carried the hen house to it's new position. Because the house and the shelter were in the same relative position there weren't any problems. They came out when it stopped raining and have been merrily scratching away ever since. Henny Penny seems to like to create a small muddy area which obviously stirs up lots of grubs going by the way she pecks at the mud.
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