So, Can Chickens Eat Cantaloupe? AKA: Muskmelon. A lot of small agriculturalists save money by using table scraps.
People love to produce their food. Although most people live in cities and towns, producing and growing our food is exciting and enticing.
However, knowing the exact process to have the best outcome is challenging. When raising chickens, how do you know what to feed them?
How do you know the best diet for a chicken to produce the most eggs? Also, there are many chicken feeds on the market, but could you get away by feeding your chickens fruit and vegetable scraps?
Here are a few tips when it comes to feeding your chickens.
In short, chickens can definitely eat cantaloupe. It is essential to be sure that the cantaloupe is not super rotted. Chickens are relatively picky before they eat a cantaloupe.
Many small agriculturalists feed their chickens cantaloupe rinds to eat and excess melon seeds that their family is not eating.
This is totally normal and not a bad idea. So if you have chickens and some excess melon seeds sitting around, feed it to your chickens.
A Healthy Diet for Chickens
Although cantaloupe is an excellent addition to a chicken diet, it should not be a chicken’s entire diet. A chicken needs a well-rounded diet to have a healthy body and feathers.
They also need to have a healthy diet to have strong shells. Most people who are getting chickens are looking for egg producers. So their food must have plenty of calcium.
A chicken’s diet must be well-rounded to be healthy and a reliable egg producer.
The Things Chickens Shouldn’t Eat
There isn’t much that a chicken won’t try, and there isn’t much that a chicken shouldn’t eat. A chicken shouldn’t have onions or chocolate.
Chocolate? There are many reasons to now share your chocolate with your chickens. The main reason is that it is toxic to chickens.
Like how it is toxic to dogs, it is difficult for chickens to process the chocolate.
Onions also contain poisonous properties that chickens have a hard time processing. So keep your onions and your chocolate far from your chickens.
What about Meat?
Most think of chickens as omnivores; however, you may be shocked to find out that chickens actually have some carnivore traits.
Did you know there have been people dying while caring for their chickens? And the chickens have eaten them before people have found them.
Chicken food also often has a bone meal and other types of meats. Surprisingly, this is good for the chickens.
Eggshells are predominantly calcium. So to help chickens have strong eggshells, chickens must have extra calcium, which often comes from meat.
Water, Water, Water
Like how the human body utilizes water to stay healthy, so does a chicken’s body. So it is essential to help your chickens be beneficial by providing clean water.
If it is wintertime, you need to get a heater for the water trough so it doesn’t freeze. This way, your chickens will always have clean, healthy water available.
Additionally, adding acid to the water can help balance the PH in the chicken’s gut. This helps keep the chickens healthier, which will, in turn, help the chickens produce more eggs with sturdier shells.
Personalities
So chickens have interesting personalities. Some chickens will be the head of the flock, injuring and trying to kill smaller chickens.
It is the epitome of the survival of the fittest. So it is vital to keep an eye on the dynamics of the chicken house. Separate those chickens that are attempting to take over.
There will also be some chickens who attempt to brood. Brooding is when they will try to sit on eggs to hatch chicks. It is essential to maintain a watchful eye on where chickens are sitting.
A brooding hen will stay in one place for a long time. Her body warmth is what helps the chicks hatch. Also, they will look run down because they neglect themselves while trying to care for their babies.
You must move them and take the eggs if they are doing this. Some hens will do this even if the eggs are unfertilized.
It is also essential to consider the personalities of your chickens when it comes to feeding.
If you have a few stronger and more prominent personalities in your chicken flock, you must provide enough feed so all the chickens get enough to eat.
And be sure to have enough feeders so that one or two chickens don’t overwhelm the feeders. It can be unhealthy for the smaller chickens because they cannot fight for food.
So be sure you have adequate feed and feeders to feed your herd. Roosters. Sexing a chicken is somewhat tricky.
So as a chick grows into a chicken, you may realize that they are not a hen. They are a rooster. A rooster will have a larger comb on the head and a larger gobble.
And the most obvious sign that it’s a rooster will be the loud cock a doodle doo that they will do after hitting chicken puberty.
If you plan to have chicks, keep a few roosters for breeding. If not, then sell or eat your roosters.
A Healthy Living Environment
Chickens need a healthy place to live in. They need an area that has straw or other bedding that they can burrow into to place their eggs. And they need an area just to get up out of the mud and muck.
Occasionally, you need to clean out your chicken brooders and chicken house. This is important to be sure that your chickens are healthy and keep illnesses out of your chicken house.
Few diseases can be detrimental to a chicken flock. One way to combat these illnesses is through cleanliness.
Provide Dirt?
Chickens need to have an area of dry dirt. No matter the season. So it is essential to provide dry dirt. Chickens utilize the dirt to roll in.
Similar to a dog. It is a way that they clean themselves and is just a daily activity. Provide dry dirt and bedding to help keep your chickens clean and healthy.
How about Corn
When it comes to helping your child have a happy and healthy life, ensure plenty of corn is in their diet.
Corn is filled with fat and other healthy vitamins and minerals that help your chickens stay healthy. Most chicken feeds contain a proper amount of corn.
So although it is okay to feed your chicken table scraps of fruits and vegetables, a well-rounded chicken diet will also contain bagged chicken feed for a perfect diet.
Free Grazing
Another simple way to help your chickens get a well-rounded diet is to let them free-range. Chickens love to eat bugs and grass.
So a little freedom from their chicken coop daily is the perfect option for a bit of variety to their diet. Most yards have an adequate variety of grasses and bugs.
A freedom trip on the daily from the coop will help give some additional variety to a chicken’s diet. Chickens are professionals at foraging for food.
They are very good at looking and finding a variety of feed in their natural setting. However, because not all areas of the world have a well-rounded enough diet for chickens, it is crucial to feed bagged feed as well.
Food Varieties Based on Purpose
There are many different types of chickens, and they have different purposes. Some breeds of chickens are great for eating. Some breeds of chickens are great for laying eggs.
So on so forth. So you will need to adjust the feed you are giving based on the purpose of the chicken. If you have laying chickens, those that are for laying eggs, you will want to give a higher calcium diet.
But pullet chickens intended for eating will need more protein to ensure muscle and meat growth.
However, no matter the chicken, they always enjoy little table scraps of fruits and vegetables, especially melon skins.
In Conclusion
Obviously, chickens can eat cantaloupe skins is not a big deal. Chickens enjoy adding table scraps of fruits and vegetables to their diet.
However, ensuring your chickens have a well-rounded diet is more important. So adding bagged feed and corn to the diet is very important to ensure your chickens are healthy.
Below is a Pinterest friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Chicken Board!!
