This may be silly but .... my coworker gave me a bag of green beans from her garden (I assume). Should I boil them and give to my hens, leave them raw and chop them up? Open them all up and take out the actual bean? Please advise!
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Thanks everyone for your advice, they were from my coworker specifically for the hens ... kinda in exchange for eggs. I need to get my own garden going so they have a nice supply of snacks available! I did chopped raw and most of them liked it
My coop is built around my compost bin, so my girls eat whatever gets tossed into the compost. When I'm out in the garden they all hover waiting for me to toss whatever leaves or greens I have available. They seem to like everything they can get their little beaks on. They would go nuts over a whole bag of green beans! But, like Sherri, I was wondering why you aren't eating them :)
We hand feed them the whole raw green bean letting the girls rip off a piece. Some of the girls love them, some only want the seeds in the middle. We also give them organic vegeys with green beans chopped up. They will eat them either way. If they are kind of bigger diameter---chop it up if you don't want to hand feed them, letting them tear off pieces. Our girls appear to be more "energetic" about eating hand-fed green beans...somehow it must "taste" better if it is in our hands.
First I'm wondering why you're not eating the beans yourself. Especially if they are garden raised! :)
Our chickens are pasture hens, so they forage daily. They will eat the beans raw and whole, and are able to break up the husks. Coop-raised birds might not be accustomed to that kind of food, so chopping might be the solution.
I would chop them up and give them to the hens raw. When I cook beans, I give the ends to the chickens, along with other veggie scraps. If your chickens don't seem too interested in the raw beans, you could steam them to soften them up a little bit and mix them with other kitchen scraps.
No sincere question is silly -:)
I think the girls would enjoy them. Try a few raw and whole and see how they react. Rachel and some of the other permies may have some additional thoughts.