Owning a Hen House – A Real Treat

When you build a hen house, you are in for a real treat. Chickens aren’t only a lot of fun to raise, but they are also the only pet I know that can make you breakfast.

But did you know that you can also treat your birds? That’s right, just like us, chicken enjoy getting treats. The nice thing about giving chickens treats though is, if you do it right, you will also increase egg production. The reason for this, unlike with us, the inhabitants of your hen house enjoy healthy treats. This gives your chickens a happy healthy environment to live in.

I can hear you asking “what types of treats should I give my chickens?” Scratch the candy bars, soft drinks and chips, a real winner with chickens are worms. If that makes your skin crawl, don’t worry, yogurt is always a huge hit with hens.

Yogurt has several benefits. The main one being that the chickens in your hen house will go crazy for it. The other ones are more practical. It is very good for their digestive system, plus it is an excellent source of calcium, which is very important for strong egg shells.

Here are several more treats that your chickens will thank you for through more delicious eggs:

First, let’s start off with the vegetables. Sure, you might have a hard time getting the kids to eat them, but you won’t have the same problem with your hens. They love to eat things like: asparagus (at least some of them), beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn etc.

Generally they will eat most types of vegetables either cooked or uncooked. It is important to make sure that they have access to plenty of greens, especially in the winter. This can be done in various ways, be creative, chickens aren’t dumb and they will enjoy a small challenge. One thing you can do is hang the cabbage from the ceiling of your hen house’s run. You are building a ceiling over it, right? During the winter months, when there isn’t much green to be found, the chickens will enjoy eating the cabbage.

Another trick is to place some broccoli and cauliflower in the corner of their run. If you want to, you can always fasten it using a suet cage. As I have said, be creative, it is always a hoot watching chickens try new foods.

Fruits are also good source of vitamins and minerals, and your hens will gobble them up.

You will quickly find that the residents in your hen house will eat just about anything, and that is where you need to be careful. There are certain foods that you should never feed your hens, some of these include: avocado skins or pits, candy, chocolate which is poisonous to many pets, beans that are either dry or uncooked, raw potatoes and their skins, or salty foods.

As you can see, there are many things you can feed your hens, meal time is always fun to watch, so make sure to treat those chickens.

What do you mean, you haven’t built your hen house yet? I agree, there are a lot of things to keep in mind, and you want to make sure that you do it properly. If that is the case, I suggest that you take a couple of minutes and sign up for my mini-course and learn what it takes to build a hen house properly.