Did you know that chickens can pretty much eat whatever we eat?  I didn’t know that in the beginning of owning chickens.  With our first batch of chickens we fed them chicken pellets, whole corn and allowed them to free range during the day.  The following year when they were one year old, we fed them watermelon.  They loved it… couldn’t get enough of it!  Later in the summer of that year we grew a small garden: tomato, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and peppers.  At the end of the day I would put vegetables in the coop run so when they awoke the next day they could keep themselves occupied.  When we had waffles or pancakes, I would give them the left over ones.  Our second and third batch of chickens had us thinking they were part dog.  Haha, not really but many of these chickens would come up to our side deck when we would come out to drink our coffee or eat a meal.  They would beg and we would feed them if we had food.

I had thought about listing foods they couldn’t eat but in the past while looking at what others fed their chickens and what I fed mine there were contradictions.  I have read that chickens shouldn’t eat apples because of the seeds.  Chickens shouldn’t eat any citrus fruits, egg plant, green tomatoes, avocado, etc.  Our chickens free range almost every day unless we are going to go off for an extended period of time or it’s raining or snowing.  Some people keep their chickens in the coop 24/7.  I don’t know if these people have the majority of the problems or not.  Or maybe it is just that particular chicken that might be allergic to certain foods?  We feed our chickens oranges, egg plants, and apples.  We have never had a problem.  We have also fed our chickens many other foods.  I think the rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t eat it then don’t feed it to the chickens.  Our chickens have ate tomatoes but we have never fed them the green tomatoes.  We always eat the tomatoes when they are ripe.

My boys wanted to do a “Chicken, would you rather…?” video where they offer a chicken different foods to eat.  This first video is a chicken from our third batch and in the video she is about 5 months.  At the time she was learning about the different foods and what’s edible or not.  Click the video below to watch!