Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,
My new hens are part of my allotment, whats good for them and whats not? Can they have potatoe tops and anything green?
Im just chucking weeds and greenery into the run and they seem to like it, somebody said dandelion greens are good for the yolks, all advice gratefully received
thanks
BP

The best ones to ask are the hens

Seriously, though, they won't eat anything that's bad for them.

They don't touch potato tops or rhubarb leaves - or (fortunately) courgette/pumpkin leaves.

My hens' top favourites are:

Cabbage - leaves or whole (and any other brassicas)
Lettuce
Chicory and endive
Tomatoes - fruit not leaves
Strawberries (and raspberries and apples and pears - in fact almost any fruit except citrus)
Parsley

and, of course, young growing grass tops. Any"greens" make a significant difference to yolk colour.

You're probably safe to leave them to it.

I'll second Alan's list, and my hens also like boiled potato, carrot and turnip peelings, chopped up into beak sized pieces.

Also, when they need a boost during moulting for instance, I give them a bit of Butcher's Tripe dog food, making sure it is the one without poultry in it!

And as Alan says the greens, particularly cabbage leaves, make the yolks lovely deep yellow, so try and give them some every day. I grow a few extra brassicas so they can have an almost year round supply.

Their run is in the orchard and had lots of grass when I first got them, but after a couple of years they had managed to scratch it all up, so I think they really benefit from extra greens.

I think everything has just about been covered and as Alan says 'they won't eat anything that's bad for them'.

When DW clears out the kitchen cupboards she often finds 'lost' packets of rice, dried fruit, nuts and so on. Even though these may be well out of date the chickens love them.
Its also a good idea to save the shells from their eggs, dry them in the oven, crush them and feed them back to the birds - best to use a grit hopper for this. Do remember to crush them though otherwise they will pick up the habit of shell pecking.

Its best to feed this other stuff as a treat after their normal feed though to stop them 'pigging' out on lots of unusual food.

John

PS Their favourite weed is guess what - chickweed!

Good luck with your new hens. Their main feed should be layers pellets - with greens as extras. Not potato tops though - that's poisonous.

In the winter they can have a couple of handfuls of mixed corn as well, in the afternoon if possible. It will keep them warm during the cold nights.