“ Not again ! ” My son Jaeson caught me red handed as I put a rubbery zucchini and the remains of last week ’s cantaloup into our kitchen compost crock . It ’s not that he hates encounter food go to waste matter ( I sure do ! ) . Rather , he lament that our senior get ’s net destination is not our compost stack but our crybaby test .
“ Those birds eat better than I do ! ” he kvetch .
Jaeson is actually quite right in his observation , but not in the personal manner he intended . He grumpily meant that our chickens eat more of our groceries than we do . And he ’s moderately right-hand . Our muckle do indeed benefit from our kitchen combat , stale simoleons , undesirable remnant , and shrink fruit and vegetable .
Voracious Omnivores
My interpretation of Jaeson ’s complaint , however , is that chicken do indeed eat better than a lot of humans , especially picky kids ( aka Jaeson ) who refuse to eat anything but alimentary paste and pizza .
Chickens are omnivores that eat both plant matter and creature - based proteins . They ’ll drop hours forage for insects . And they ’ll gladly eat any frogs , mouse and snake they manage to trance .
chicken will also chow down on scrambled eggs , aging meat loaf and — yes — even leftover poulet .
Nobody liked your tuna casserole ? Your chicken will rust it . Grilled too many hot dogs ? Your poulet will assist you out with that , too .
translate more : Black soldier flies are a self - harvest home volaille feed .
Fruit Fanatics
Chickens also adore anything with seeds : melons , bell peppers , pumpkins , squash , cuke , you name it . pit yield is a particular front-runner . My hen just seem to know when I ’ve eaten all I can of a smasher , plum tree or nectarine and will polish the rest of the yield decent off the endocarp .
The little rascals have also swiped monkey nut butter and jelly sandwiches and pizza slice right out of my sons ’ unsuspecting hand . Lesson learned : Do n’t eat around the volaille unless you think to partake !
My razz are also rather doting of my vacation nut , which is more than I can say for my immediate family . Chickens truly have noteworthy palates !
Treat Seekers
Our birds are also very astute when it issue forth to recognise where to ascertain especially tasty treats . The instant one of our wimp see us tote up our kitchen smut in their instruction , they sound the alert . Suddenly all of our bird dart out of their coops , gathering by the Bill Gates in anticipation of delectable delights .
We had to contend in our vegetable garden to keep the chooks from demolishing our salad greens , radishes , Brassica rapa , corn shoot and sister melon . I also discover that the handful of Orpington hens that kept rate into the woodwind instrument were n’t being on purpose obtuse . They ’d expose the raspberry canes that thrive there .
I ’ve also lost track of how many times I ’ve shoo away chickens ( and turkeys ! ) off our deck railing , which provided them with convenient access to our wild - dame feeders and their delectable miscellany of bird come .
Read more : Learn more about the 5 all-important nutrients in chicken feed .
Forbidden Foods
Despite their ravening appetite for everything , chickens should stay by from several human foodstuff which are safe for us but can be troublesome or downright severe for them . These admit :
While I may not be making a chocolate - avocado tree level cake any sentence soon ( neither my family nor my chickens will run through it ) , I do set white potato oftentimes . And while he may grouse about our chickens getting lots of our remnant , Jaeson has taken to eating his potatoes with peels on … his way of making trusted our flocks stay safe .
