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Post by dw on Nov 15, 2019 21:39:25 GMT
We have lots and I've read online but would like other opinions.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2019 22:55:21 GMT
Yes, chickens thrive on anything but poison. They are one of the scavenger, garbage consumers of nature.
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Post by mogal on Nov 15, 2019 23:51:54 GMT
Our hens clean up dropped seed under the bird feeder and if I want to give them a high calorie treat in winter, it's sunflower seed. Some will even come eat from my hand to get them.
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Post by grannyg on Nov 16, 2019 2:44:04 GMT
My hens love them..I also plant them and pull up the seedlings in warmer weather for them...they love sprouts...
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Post by Woodpecker on Nov 16, 2019 14:45:33 GMT
My girls chickens loved sunflower seeds. They would all come a running to her, when they saw the big jar that held the sun flower seeds.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Nov 16, 2019 16:29:28 GMT
With shells or shelled sunflower seeds? I would be concerned that if they still had the shells on, the sunflower seed would get stuck in their craw. But, I never had chickens, so I don't know for sure.
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Post by mogal on Nov 16, 2019 17:01:16 GMT
Good question, Cabin. I've never gone to the expense of shelled sunflower seed for our chickens. I would assume since the smaller birds do well with the shell intact, the same would be so with something as big as a chicken. Those gizzards are pretty powerful, dealing with whole corn, etc.
I've seen our chickens eat live toads, mice and nearly foot long snakes. If those don't "stick in their craw," I don't see a sunflower seed causing a problem but that old expression had to come from somewhere, huh?
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Nov 16, 2019 17:20:20 GMT
I, too, have some younger chickens that come up to the house and hang out at one of the BOSS feeders. But, I must admit that I don't feed them to any of my other chickens. Just my own preference... In the past, I would feed whole corn as a treat on occasion. But, after a couple of my older hens got impacted crops - no more! That really isn't fun to deal with I must say... So, after that I have become wary in regards to whole corn and sunflower seeds. Just me...  From what I have read on the net - seems like LOTS of people out there feed them with success... ~Mari ETA - Upon further thought - I would think if they were fed in moderation - you shouldn't have any trouble. I remember when I fed whole corn as a treat in the past - it was those hens that gobbled up as much as they possibly could were the ones I had trouble with... but I digress... |
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Post by dw on Nov 16, 2019 21:38:52 GMT
They are in the shell...my garden this year was plant what seeds you have...huge sunflowers and I know we won't eat them so the chickens will get little treats all winter.
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Post by Maura on Nov 16, 2019 23:23:04 GMT
In the winter, when they could no longer forage and I had to feed them grain, I included sunflower seeds, shell on. Oats, corn, wheat, sunflower seeds.
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Post by mzgarden on Nov 17, 2019 1:24:55 GMT
Ours always love them but....they are high in fat so everything in moderation has been our thought.
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Post by farmchix on Nov 17, 2019 8:37:22 GMT
We give them to our chickens as a treat. They love them and we've never had issues.
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Post by Tim Horton on Nov 17, 2019 8:54:42 GMT
Of all places to find it, Sweetie got a big, unopened bag of oil, bird seed grade sunflower seeds at the Salvation Army store, for about a third the price per kilo anywhere else.
Sunflower seeds, I suspect, would be considered a "hot" feed. High fat, fiber, and other stuff good for them.
But like said, kind of a supplement to regular feed, jut to boost there systems occasionally.
I've noticed they use more crushed granite grit in winter, so making it available is likely a good idea.
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Post by Melissa on Nov 17, 2019 17:59:16 GMT
Our chickens hang out under the bird feeder just hoping for some dropped sunflower seed! They love them.
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Post by Maura on Nov 18, 2019 1:50:35 GMT
I used the black oil seeds as I believed they needed more fat in the winter. But, as I wrote, part of the whole.
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Post by Tim Horton on Nov 26, 2019 18:07:29 GMT
In the "apple sauce" Sweetie cans for winter chicken feed, she adds rose hips, raspberry leaves, fennel seed, clover, dandelion blossoms, hops flowers, and more than I can think of at this moment. We pick and freeze all these items until time to can apples.
Just a tea spoon of fennel in one liter, a half cup of rose hips in another liter, and so on. In the big kettle on the kitchen wood stove a couple liter apple sauce, about 3-4 cups hen scratch grain, water, kitchen scraps, all in an overnight warm stew.
We had about half a bucket of small sunburned potatoes that the flock enjoyed in there "stew" a hand full at a time.
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Post by dw on Dec 4, 2019 12:50:48 GMT
Just an update: we have older and young hens...they LOVE them! Give them a treat a couple times each week.
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Post by aoconnor on Dec 5, 2019 16:47:41 GMT
Oh absolutely! My chickens love sunflower seeds:-)
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Post by mogal on Apr 27, 2021 10:43:32 GMT
I always wondered why a bag of BOSS said for wild birds only because my chickens loved them so. Then while reading "Indoor Salad Gardening" by Peter Burke, I found a warning re: using commercial BOSS for the salad mixes due to the fumigant used in it not being safe for human consumption. So, in my book, if it isn't safe for me, it isn't safe for my critters. I no longer feed BOSS to any of our livestock.
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