"How do you walk through all this stuff? Your coop is a mess!" A family member of mine said as he stepped carefully between corn cobs and orange peels.
"No it isn't," I replied, "you just have to know where to step. You're walking right through where I dump the scraps!"
A scrap bucket, explain simply, is a piece of fairy land in a chicken's eyes. We all know that treats are the way to a chicken's heart, and just imagine than in addition to bits of bagged corn and dried mealworms, there are watermelon rinds and leafy greens in the coop!
A scrap bucket -or chicken bucket, as I sometimes call it- is just a container where you through all of your leftover foods and old fruit.
Chickens are not picky, and eat almost anything. Apple cores, banana peels, wilted lettuce, corn on the cob, carrot peels, stale bread, leftover rice and cooked beans, uneaten oatmeal, the guts of a pumpkin, and that old soup in the fridge that hasn't been touched in a month.
It's simple, you keep a bucket or container in your kitchen, or out side the back door if you prefer, and toss any edible foods you don't want into it. Then when you go out to the coop in the morning, you dump the bucket out in the chicken yard somewhere!
Some of the benefits to keeping a scrap bucket are:
Some of my flock's favorites are pumpkin guts, watermelon rinds, and old bread. But of course, this varies by the flock.
Extra food is not all the chickens like; weeds from the garden and short grass clippings are also enjoyed.
One of my favorite things about the scrap bucket is the added nutrition to the chicken's diet! Yes, pellets provide almost everything chickens have to have to survive, but not quite all they need. One example is that greens have natural vitamins that are good for all creatures, and chickens especially need these in winter.
Sometimes scrap buckets attract fruit flies. The solution is simple, keep the bucket outside until all the flies are dead. This also goes for when the bucket gets a bit to smelly.
You can clean the bucket any time you want. I don't clean mine often, but I do have several similar looking buckets that I trade out occasionally.
Anything can be a scrap bucket. I prefer old ice-cream buckets with handles, but five-gallon buckets work best during canning season.
One note is that chickens are creatures of habit. I dump my scraps in the same area every time, and they always know where to go for a snack. Once I tried to dump the bucket on the opposite side of the chicken yard, and the chickens were obviously confused and kept looking at me like I was crazy. Then I picked up the untouched food walked to the normal "dump station," where the scraps were eagerly devoured. But don't think this means that once you choose a dump station, that will be your dump station forever. The station can be changed, it just takes a little while for the chickens to catch on.
As for what goes into the scrap bucket, well, chickens are tough. In fact, they are much tougher than we give them credit for. There is debate over feeding your chickens stale or moldy bread and similar foods. Many people say that you should not feed poultry anything that you deem unfit for yourself. I have been feeding my chickens such things for several years, and my chickens are and have always been healthy and happy. But if you want to play it safe, I see nothing wrong with that.
Some people feed their chickens leftover meat, which I agree with as long as they don't eat chicken. But some people have no problem with this. Please judge as you see fit.
However, there are certain things you should avoid. Some of the main ones are:
And finally, a scrap bucket isn't for just chickens; it works for all poultry! Ducks, geese, quail, and turkeys will all enjoy this wonderful habit of yours.
"No it isn't," I replied, "you just have to know where to step. You're walking right through where I dump the scraps!"
A scrap bucket, explain simply, is a piece of fairy land in a chicken's eyes. We all know that treats are the way to a chicken's heart, and just imagine than in addition to bits of bagged corn and dried mealworms, there are watermelon rinds and leafy greens in the coop!
A scrap bucket -or chicken bucket, as I sometimes call it- is just a container where you through all of your leftover foods and old fruit.
Chickens are not picky, and eat almost anything. Apple cores, banana peels, wilted lettuce, corn on the cob, carrot peels, stale bread, leftover rice and cooked beans, uneaten oatmeal, the guts of a pumpkin, and that old soup in the fridge that hasn't been touched in a month.
It's simple, you keep a bucket or container in your kitchen, or out side the back door if you prefer, and toss any edible foods you don't want into it. Then when you go out to the coop in the morning, you dump the bucket out in the chicken yard somewhere!
Some of the benefits to keeping a scrap bucket are:
- The chickens love it!
- It is healthy for them!
- That which the chickens don't eat can compost.
- You waste less food. On trips away from home I always feel guilty for throwing extra food in the trash.
- The chicken feed bill goes down significantly!
Some of my flock's favorites are pumpkin guts, watermelon rinds, and old bread. But of course, this varies by the flock.
Extra food is not all the chickens like; weeds from the garden and short grass clippings are also enjoyed.
One of my favorite things about the scrap bucket is the added nutrition to the chicken's diet! Yes, pellets provide almost everything chickens have to have to survive, but not quite all they need. One example is that greens have natural vitamins that are good for all creatures, and chickens especially need these in winter.
Sometimes scrap buckets attract fruit flies. The solution is simple, keep the bucket outside until all the flies are dead. This also goes for when the bucket gets a bit to smelly.
You can clean the bucket any time you want. I don't clean mine often, but I do have several similar looking buckets that I trade out occasionally.
Anything can be a scrap bucket. I prefer old ice-cream buckets with handles, but five-gallon buckets work best during canning season.
One note is that chickens are creatures of habit. I dump my scraps in the same area every time, and they always know where to go for a snack. Once I tried to dump the bucket on the opposite side of the chicken yard, and the chickens were obviously confused and kept looking at me like I was crazy. Then I picked up the untouched food walked to the normal "dump station," where the scraps were eagerly devoured. But don't think this means that once you choose a dump station, that will be your dump station forever. The station can be changed, it just takes a little while for the chickens to catch on.
As for what goes into the scrap bucket, well, chickens are tough. In fact, they are much tougher than we give them credit for. There is debate over feeding your chickens stale or moldy bread and similar foods. Many people say that you should not feed poultry anything that you deem unfit for yourself. I have been feeding my chickens such things for several years, and my chickens are and have always been healthy and happy. But if you want to play it safe, I see nothing wrong with that.
Some people feed their chickens leftover meat, which I agree with as long as they don't eat chicken. But some people have no problem with this. Please judge as you see fit.
However, there are certain things you should avoid. Some of the main ones are:
- Raw potatoes and peels (cooked potatoes are okay)
- Stems and leaves from plants in the nightshade family such as tomatoes and potatoes (tomatoes are fine, as long as there are no leaves)
- Avocado skins and pits, though some people prefer to avoid avocados altogether
- Strongly salty foods (lightly salted is okay)
- Too many apple seeds (apple seeds are toxic consumed in large amounts)
- Chocolate and sugary foods and snacks, including candy
- Raw or dry beans
- Raw eggs (there is some debate on this, mostly because feeding raw eggs sometimes causes egg-eating habits)
- Learn more about good and bad foods for chickens here: Chicken Treat Chart—the Best Treats for Backyard Chickens
And finally, a scrap bucket isn't for just chickens; it works for all poultry! Ducks, geese, quail, and turkeys will all enjoy this wonderful habit of yours.
