Kitchen scraps

[Bluefinch]

I always give my girls the kitchen scraps but have read that it is advisable to cook potato skins first. Do other veg peelings need to be cooked for them too.

[Mo]

I think potato isn't very easily digested by hens and they don't get much goodness from it even when cooked. If it has gone green it contains a poison (spuds & tomatoes are from the nightshade family)
I think other peelings are OK - mine turn up their noses at carrots and runner beans.

[Bluefinch]

Thank you for your reply Mo. I put most scraps out onto the compost heap and then they take what they want. They love cheese.

[Richard]

I've found they only like left overs cooked. As Mo say's, Potatoes aren't usually their favourites.
Anything with pips in is usually well received !

Sometimes I think there's too much fuss about scraps. If they don't want it, they don't eat it and seem to have a sixth sense as to what's good or not to them.

Saying that you need to know what they do like - anything they don't touch will be a magnet for Mice and / or Rats !!

Richard

[Bluefinch]

Luckily I have not noticed any mice or rats around the compost heap. The cat catches quite a few mice in the garden though. The hens spend a lot of time scratching around in the compost box probably as much for worms and insects as the scraps I give them. Careful not to put any meat out though.

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi , Chickens eat meat . I have thrown bones (raw and cooked ) to them and they pick them clean . Dog then eats the bones. No wastage at all.
I dont cook ,not much other than pasta .Neighbours lob everything over and not much left by end of the day .
As said if the like it they eat it . Raw meat not much different than a mouse , bird , creatures they can find on there own . government regs stop waste going to industry to protect the flocks from harm.
Bob

[Bluefinch]

The reason I don't put meat or bones on the compost heap is because it might attract rats and flies etc and also the neighbour's dog who seems interested in the compost heap. Although I could just throw some scraps for the hens in the garden and then clear up what they don't eat although we don't normally have much meat left over anyway.

[manda]

Just to cover the Lane however technically chickens shouldn't be fed anything that has come from your kitchen according to DEFRA.... so we're all cooking things up for them on camping stoves ...aren't we

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi , Does that include tins of beans and fish etc I wonder .
I have ahelicopter flying over my house quite often ,i wonder if big brother is spying on me . Least the cockerals give me warning.
Dont think the girls will be happy when I tell them the curries of the meanu from the take away.
Bob

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi , just thought , Somebody should tell the girls not to help themselves of my diner plate in the summer .
Has anybody told the hen pals . I am sure there must be something in the manifesto they wrote up.
Bob

[manda]

DEFRA are very specific:

http://ahvla.defra.gov.uk/documents/surveillance/diseases/backyard-poultry-guidance.pdf

Information about feeding kitchen scraps or leftovers and/or catering waste to poultry - this is illegal and may spread notifiable or other diseases:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supplying-and-using-animal-by-products-as-farm-animal-feed

ABPs you can’t use
You must never use catering waste as farm animal feed, regardless of whether it’s vegetable or meat based or whether it comes from from restaurants, households, or other sites.

You also must never use:

kitchen scraps
raw meat and fish (including shellfish) or any ABPs containing them
fully or partially cooked meat, fish and shellfish or any ABPs containing them
any unprocessed egg and egg products, milk and milk products or any other unprocessed products of animal origin
collagen and gelatine from ruminants or any products containing it
unwanted food products, meant for humans, that are decomposing, mouldy, or toxic
You can’t make or supply farm animal feed using processed animal protein (PAP) unless:

it comes from non-ruminant animals and you’re feeding it to farmed fish
it’s fishmeal and you’re feeding to non-ruminant animals

As far as DEFRA are concerned unless the food comes from a vegan kitchen it can't be used.

[Bluefinch]

I had read that somewhere Manda. Thought it was an April fools joke! How ridiculous - birds and animals have been given kitchen scraps forever. I'm certainly not going to deprive my girls of anything they like - beans, cheese, bread, pasta, noodles etc.

[Mo]

The historical background to this. Back in the last century (seems like yesterday to me) the government relaxed rules about processing temperature for animal waste used in animal feed and cut the vet research centre staffing(Maggie T). Surprise! Some of the sheep that had been unfit for human consumption had a brain disease (scrapie). 'Impossible for other animals to catch it'. But it mutated and cows started falling down. Mad Cow Disease. Long incubation period. Kept quiet for a while before the newspapers caught on and started wondering if there would be an increase in CJD - the rare human form of the disease. gov says'don't panic' and to prove it's OK Min of Ag is photographed giving his daughter a hamburger. Months of denial. Our EU partners are not convinced (do I remember French setting lorries alight?) and British Beef is banned. Then a complete change of tack and the rules about kitchen waste brought in, which even applies to stuff properly cooked and fit for human consumption in the kitchen of someone with just a few hens. I won't tell you if I obey the rules and I won't ask if you do