Anyone that has chickens they
care for know how much chickens love to eat fresh fruits and veggies. You
especially know this if you have a garden and your chicken have ever wandered
into it. I love letting my girls eat stuff from our garden since they love to
eat the bugs there, too. I try to keep an eye on them so they move through
quickly and don’t eat the food we need, too.
This is hard to do in the winter
when you live where it gets to freezing temperatures, but thankfully they love
scraps from dinner. It’s not the same as fresh veggies. I saw a post online
somewhere about someone getting produce from a grocery store that was going to
be thrown away. I thought I should try this and see what luck I had.
I asked at our local grocery, and
they went to the back and got a huge box, pulled all the produce they pulled
that day out of the (food) waste bin, and slapped a price sticker on it for one
dollar. Pretty sure the person I got this idea from (I really wish I could
remember who it was… if anyone knows, please let me know so I can link to
them!) didn’t pay for the food, but I’m pretty excited that I got so much food
for $1. Honestly, much of it was stuff that I would still eat. A tomato with a
wrinkly spot on one side, a green pepper with the same wrinkle spot, a cucumber, a banana
with brown spots, lettuce with a smidgen of brown in a tiny area, etc. There
was so much of it! Well worth a dollar!
Now I call them in advance to see
if it’s a good day to go in or not. Often times they will ask for a few hours (to keep pulling produce, but set it aside), so I call when I drop the kids off at school and pick the produce up just before I pick the kids up. On days they have “preppers”, I get strawberry
scraps, grapes, apples, and other fresh fruits and veggies they wash and cut
for “ready-to-eat” containers. Last time I even got a cauliflower! I have no
idea what was wrong with it, but I do promise the store employees it won’t be
for human consumption, so I gave it to the girls. They love cauliflower, if you’re curious!
I have asked at a few places and
many of them say they can’t give the produce (for numerous reasons... one place
sends their scraps to be composted), but if you can find one that does, then you
can cost-effectively provide fresh produce for your chickens regardless of the
weather outside!
Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible
for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those
of your own.
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