Can you feed hens stale bread?

[jeannine]

Is it ok to give chickens stale bread, and if so, do you need to soak it first or anything?

[Tracey]

I give our chickens stale bread and they gobble it up with gusto.

[janeyo]

Hi I give our (3) bread occasionally as am told it gives them the runs if they eat too much?

janeyo

[shirlthegirl43]

We used to put it in the feed bucket and everything was drenched with boiling water in the morning and then layers mash added, the lot mixed up and fed to the chooks - nice hot breakfast on a winter morning

[yoanbob]

No problem with stale bread, just ration it as they get very runny bums if your not carefull

[new2growing]

Yes,bread's fine. I buy cheap rice or spaghetti & whizz some bread into breadcrumbs, mix it all together & they love it.Never any waste.

[TPeers]

Like all 'treats' it should be feed in moderation - think of it like feeding children, treats are nice and can form a useful part of the diet but can't replace 'proper' meals that give all the nutrients for healthy growth.

It's the usual thing of balance, and why it is recommended that treats are not given first thing. If you have some form of chiken pellet/mash which is their main food, it is a good idea to supply it in a manner that allows free access such as a hopper which refills from a supply as food is taken. A complicated way of saying 'on demand feeding'. Either that or the thing that Shirlthegirl and others describe - a hot mash where the feed is mixed into the treats.

Like children, chickens will eat the treats first and may not be hungry for their 'proper' food if they are given a lot of treat items.

The odd slice of bread (crusts from the loaf?) is hardly a problem, but given you state stale by which I imply dry - make sure there is plenty of water for the hens.

[paplay]

Our hens get layers pellets mixed with any of our leftovers that are not chicken. They LOVE raw cabbage - just chuck half a head in and will keep them amused for hours. Also love black bananas, apples, salad, pasta and rice, cooked veg, dripping from joints, - and of course - bread. Usually have a dozen free range hens at a time - Black Rocks for last 6 years. We dont have foxes/ferrets here so they get themselves in and out - which is great. We throw very little food waste away - the two cows get veg peelings, Susan the 30+ year old pony adores orange peel, in summer we keep 2 pigs who devour anything - but dont give them any meat. IMHO all animals benefit from a diversity of feed - within their own parameters. have not found anything that will eat onion skins or leeks!!

[jonny_s_p]

Hi Paplay,

Sorry to be going off topic - but I thought you might like to know our Black Rocks love leeks. I guess we've got southern softie chickens

[jeannine]

I'll try some leek leaves too and see how they get on, our girls love cabbages and broccoli.

Sorry if I'm being really thick, but when you mention giving your hens rice and pasta, I'm assuming that is the cooked version?

It's rare to have leftovers of pasta at our house as my OH can eat his own bodyweight in it at one sitting - and he never puts weight on! I guess that's from all the digging.

[Sue]

Hi
I did read on one of the poultry forums that you should soak the bread first as it swells up in their crops, don't know if this is correct?

As a treat I give mine millet (that budgies get), I hang it up for them and they spend ages twizzling it with their beaks to get the seeds out.

Sue

[Red or Dead]

Hi folks Im a new poster to your forum. On winter evenings like we have been having I buy a bag of mixed muesli for mine and mix it with some hot water. They go mad for it and its easy to mix some wormer in it as well when needed.

[yoanbob]

good idea red or dead
go easy on the bread tho, we had 9 birds and a friendly neighbor every sunday would give them any stale bread she had, plus sunday roast peelings, (they ignored peelings because of bread, like kids) somtimes nearly two loaves of bread, they just got really bad bums and I mean really bad, so moderation and they will be fine.

[Graham S]

balanced diet

Hi All,

Ditto to Tpeers's remarks - chucks need a balanced diet to lay well otherwise they tend to get fat and go off lay. Occasional treats are OK but not too often.
cheers
Graham

[tonyg]

i need some advice on egg bound hens pls