What foods are safe and unsafe for my backyard chickens to eat?

Choose a commercial pelleted diet labeled as "all flock" or "flock raiser". This is a complete diet for most chickens. For the hen, you will need to supplement calcium, especially if she is a layer. You can offer her crushed oyster shells freely. Do not use a layer diet for both. The calcium levels would be too high for the rooster leading to potential health issues for him. The website www.backyardchickens.com is an excellent resource for information regarding the husbandry and feeding of domestic chickens.

These foods can be fed to poultry but they may not include all the nutrients necessary for optimum health. It is good that the potato is cooked because a raw potato can cause health issues for chickens. Depending on the type of whole grain offered they may not be getting enough protein. Usually chickens are fed a grain mixture, called scratch grains with a pellet or crumble made for the age of the bird. For example, we feed a growing ratio when developing when chickens are young or a laying ratio when the hens are old enough to lay eggs.

Sugary foods are generally not recommended for domestic chickens. However, one or two mini marshmallows will likely not cause any problems. Follow the link for a list of treats for your flock. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

If your hen is free ranging, ie, can walk and eat wherever she likes, then she will teach her chicks to eat insects and seeds and grit and you will not need to add anything. If your chicken is in a coop and cannot take her chicks out to forage, then you need to buy either commercial baby chick starter food or feed them insects and worms and chopped greens. You can also feed them chopped boiled eggs. You can also mix finely chopped hard-boiled eggs with oatmeal ground lentils, ground maize, flax, millet. You can add worms and other insects. They will always need fresh water available.

If you are concerned about your birds getting cold you should keep them in a wind-proof enclosed shelter and provide them additional heat with a heat lamp. The feed you described is appropriate provided they are in cold weather. You should not feed corn if the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees celsius.

Hello. Chickens can indeed spread diseases, like Salmonella, Campylobacter, Mycobacterium & Chlamidia. But if you have a normal functioning immune system & wash hands after working & handling the chickens & eggs, you should be fine. Chickens can be a lot of work as you need a proper place to keep them safe, a good coop for the night, proper food in the correct ratios, ocassional worming & make sure you only purchase chicks that have been vaccinated for Mareks. There are wonderful books & websites for new chicken owners. I like https://www.mypetchicken.com & https://the-chicken-chick.com. Thanks for using PetCoach.

I would not feed CTC any hen feed. Rabbits should be on a 90% roughage diet of timothy hay and dark greens. The other 10% can be veggies and pellets. The roughage is very important for proper gastrointestinal function and defecation. Also roughage keeps their teeth from needing trimmed often