Chicken Treats- small quantities of apples
- asparagus
- bananas (without peel)
- beans (not dry)
- beets
- berries
- breads
- broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- cabbage
- carrots
- cauliflower
- cereal
- clover
- corn
- crickets
- cucumbers
- eggplant
- flowers (unless treated with pesticides)
- fruit
- grains
- grapes (seedless)
- grits
- lettuce
- kale
- meal worms
- melon
- oatmeal
- pasta (cooked)
- peas
- peppers (bell)
- pomegranates
- popcorn (no butter or salt)
- pumpkins
- raisins
- rice
- sprouts
- squash
- sunflower seeds
- tomatoes
- turnips
- watermelon
DO NOT FEED CHICKENS:
- raw green potato peels (contains toxic substances called Solanine)
- anything salty (can cause salt poisoning)
- citrus
- dried or undercooked beans (contains toxic substance called Hemaglutin)
- avocado skin or seed (have toxicity)
- raw eggs (encourages egg-pecking)
- sugar (bad for body systems, chocolate is poisonous)
- evergreen
- fungi
Tasks
Daily
- fresh food and water (every other day waterers should be cleaned)
- quick health check- make sure nothing seems peculiar with your chickens
- collect eggs
- close pop hole at night
- clean chicken coop (between May and October, check for Red Mite in cracks and perch ends)
- provide fresh greens at least twice a week
- put 2% Apple Cider vinegar in the waterers
JANUARY
Add a vitamin supplement to the water if the weather is cold and rub Vaseline into combs to protect against hard frosts. Provide regular greens when the ground is frozen. If snow falls, clear the ground immediately in front of their house so they can get out.
FEBRUARY
Add a vitamin supplement to the water to birds that are breeding or if the weather is cold. Continue rubbing vaseline onto the combs if necessary.
Provide regular greens when the ground is frozen.
MARCH
Add gravel, sand or wood chippings to well used ground as it turns to mud in the rain. Worm the flock with Flubenvet.
APRIL
Spring clean chicken houses. Let birds out on warmer days for a couple of hours around mid-day to get some fresh grass.
MAY
Red mite season begins – start preventative red mite treatment. Let chicks / growers out onto grass in covered runs and make sure they are locked up at night.
JUNE
Continue preventative red mite treatment.
Inspect fencing fully as June to September is a popular time for fox attacks. Make sure birds have shade and their water is not in the sunlight so they can cool themselves off by drinking.
JULY
Continue preventative red mite treatment.
AUGUST
Continue preventative red mite treatment.
As chickens come into moult, give them extra vitamins, a handful of dried catfood (for extra protein) and ACV to help them to grow new feathers.
SEPTEMBER
Continue preventative red mite treatment. Worm the flock with Flubenvet. Repair houses and runs that need fixing before the winter. Replace sand or chippings if used in smaller runs.
OCTOBER
Red Mite Season Ends – Stop preventative red mite treatment as weather turns cold.
NOVEMBER
Make sure you have sufficient water containers for the freezing weather to come. Make sure hen houses are draft proof.
DECEMBER
Add a vitamin supplement to the water every other week if the weather is cold. Provide regular greens when the ground is frozen and extra corn so they have more fat (from the maize) to produce more heat. Ensure hens can get shelter when the weather is bad, especially in cold winds and rain.
Thanks to keeping-chickens.me.uk for this info!
Materials
- waterer
- feeder
- feed
- bedding (pine shavings and wood chips work best)
- Vaseline
- small hand brush (for cleaner waterer)
- scoop (for cleaning out nesting boxes and another for scooping feed)
- suet feeder (for putting treats in to peck at)
- greens
- dry corn
- coop
- run/area to explore
- egg carriers/cartons
- pebbles (to prevent mud)
- sand and litter box (for sand baths)
