Let me tell you about the time last summer when I tried feeding my chickens some leftover artichoke leaves from dinner.<\/p>\n
I love artichokes and was snacking on some a few nights ago while sitting on the back porch watching the sunset.<\/p>\n
When I finished eating, I had a big pile of leaves left over on my plate and figured my chickens would go crazy over them.<\/p>\n
Artichokes can be kind of pricey, so I hate to waste any part of them.<\/p>\n
I gathered up all the leftover leaves and brought them out to the coop as the ladies were settling in for the night.<\/p>\n
As I scattered the leaves out in the run, the chickens flocked over curiously.<\/p>\n
At first, they seemed hesitant about this new green food I was offering and cautiously pecked at the leaves.<\/p>\n
My golden comet<\/a> hen Olive was the bravest and took the first big bite.<\/p>\n But she quickly gave me side-eye and turned up her beak at the taste.<\/p>\n The Rhode Island Reds<\/a> were a bit more eager and snapped up a few leaves.<\/p>\n But after watching them for a few minutes, it was clear they weren’t too interested in this treat.<\/p>\n Most of the flock wandered away leaving the artichoke leaves scattered in the dirt.<\/p>\n The next day I did some research to figure out why the chickens hated the leaves so much.<\/p>\n