Backyard chickens enjoy treats to spice up their daily diet. But it is important to offer healthy treats, not as replacements for regular feed.
Feeding your chickens tasty yet simple treats can help them through tough times in their coop.
Contents
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds make an excellent treat for backyard chicken flocks, as they’re low in both sugars and calories while offering essential Vitamin E to fight diseases like coccidiosis and bronchitis.
Sunflower seeds make an excellent way to engage your chickens while providing them with something fun to peck at! Be sure to add plenty of grit as an addition to their feed to prevent them from devouring entire seed heads, thus creating an impaction on their crop.
As treats should not make up more than 5% of a chicken’s diet, as this could lead to unhealthy weight gain, sunflower seeds may provide the perfect stress-relief treat. They contain flavonoids such as heliannone, quercetin, kaempferol and luteolin; in addition to caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid protocatechuic and coumaric acids which contain anti-stress properties that could help your birds cope more easily with life’s stresses.
Chocolate
Chickens enjoy indulging in treats, particularly during their molt. However, it is important to remember that treats should only be given on occasion and do not serve as a replacement for providing balanced nutrition.
Chocolate contains components which are toxic to chickens when consumed in excess, specifically Theobromine and Caffeine. These substances interfere with and affect their nervous systems, potentially leading to seizures that could even result in death.
To prevent this, it’s best to only give chickens small amounts of chocolate or purchase certified fair-trade cocoa that has been produced using methods that do not exploit workers. Also read labels carefully and call manufacturers if any ingredients concern you; most importantly, remember that all animals – including humans – should only consume foods they would eat naturally and should never be fed foods that do not agree with their diet! Treat all your poultry carefully!
Soybean
Chickens require a diet rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals for healthy feathers, strong bones, egg production, and to prevent health problems. If they only feed on table scraps however they may not receive sufficient nourishment leading to diseases, weak eggs production, bedraggled feathers and more.
Soybeans (Glycine max) are tall legumes grown for their oil and protein. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates alike, soybean flowers come in white or various hues of purple with two to four seeds per pod ranging from yellow, green, brown, black or bicolored species.
Soybeans can be used as treats for backyard chickens. Rich in protein and calcium, soybeans provide an ideal protein source and calcium supplement that may even replace meat in some recipes. Plus, their phytoestrogen content mimics oestrogen’s action to provide added health benefits such as lower cholesterol levels and heart disease prevention.
Berries
Strawberry, raspberry and blueberries are delicious treats that chickens absolutely adore! Not only are they packed full of protein and vitamins but they are a good source of calcium, iron and other important minerals too. When feeding berries to chickens make sure you read and follow label instructions regarding sugar content as well as spread out evenly so all of your chickens receive some–otherwise the higher-ranking ones might hoard all the tasty goodies for themselves and ignore others!
Plain yogurt can provide your pet with probiotics, calcium and potassium – making it an ideal treat. But be careful as too much could cause diarrhea – not to replace their regular feed!
Backyard chickens require a diet rich in proteins, vitamins & minerals, carbohydrates, grains and fats in addition to high quality complete feed for proper muscle development and egg shell strength. A diet too heavy in table scraps may result in obesity, poor egg production, malnutrition or other health complications – to keep your flock happy and healthy choose our Flock Blocks supplement which provide all essential vitamins & minerals!
