greens for chickens?

[grannyjanny]

Can chickens eat lettuce & spinach, someone thinks they go short on greenery .

[grannyjanny]

[Jayb]

I hope so, mine do!

[goodlife]

They can...though lettuce can give runny bum for some. I don't tend to give lettuce to mine. But other sort of greenery, veg tops are all eaten eagerly.

[Mikeakabigman]

Yep, Chickens thrive on a varied diet, including greens, if they haven't had access to any sort of greens, give a little to start with, until their systems get used to it.
When given access to free range it is surprising what they will eat, I once caught mine squabbling over a dead Frog .

[goodlife]

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I once caught mine squabbling over a dead Frog .

Oh yes...mine did that over a mouse family..they were chancing the poor little things, pecked them into lump of mince meat and swallowed the little things whole..YUK!
Looks and sounds horrid but chickens were highly delighted for the extra protein..

[RenishawPhil]

Ours eat anything including baby frogs,mice, anything , you name it they will eat it

[grannyjanny]

Perhaps I should ask Jim at the lotty for his mice from the traps. He might , he takes them home for Elvis his cat. They get lots of greenery but thought I could sow a lettuce bed for them.

[Ironman]

We feed all garden weeds and refuse to the chickens. They should not get so much, that it displaces the room in their crop for the layer feed of 17% protein or the egg production will suffer.
We feed gophers, dead birds, etc to them. If the body is too big to eat, they just leave it and the flys try to lay eggs in it. Chickens eat the flies, the maggots, and when soft enough, the whole thing.

Someone mentioned aggressive chickens and pecking. That is the start of cannibalism. I lost 3 layers in winter , getting killed and partly eaten. I read up on this, and the cure is to throw scratch into the bedding. The need/urge to scratch for food is somehow tied to this behavior, and scratching controls it.

Another thing for winter is dust baths. They need this to control mites, and for entertainment. I put a cardboard box of wood ash into the henhouse and they have a ball. The air gets so full of dust you can hardly see.

[Melbourne12]

We give ours green pretty much all through the colder months.  Our neighbouring allotment holders are generous with failed cabbages, caulis etc, which the chickens love.  I know that this sounds like a gross indulgence, but we keep an eye open for bargains or end-of-day markdowns in the supermarket for cabbages or any greens, melons, and sweetcorn to feed to them for a treat.