As winter descends on our farm and the grass is covered with snow, the chickens typically choose to stay inside of their cozy, covered run. Since they aren’t getting any foraged food during this time, I supplement their diet with storage crops from the garden that would otherwise go straight to the compost.

One example of this is my homegrown butternut squash. I use butternut squash to make pumpkin pies for the holidays and all winter long. The first step in this process is removing the seeds and roasting the squash in the oven. After roasting, I scrape out the squash meat and save the skins and seeds for the chickens. These leftovers still have a lot of valuable nutrients in it but it’s not something that you would want to put on the dinner table.

Feeding these extras to the chickens cuts down on their food bill and contributes to their heath in multiple ways. The obvious one is that they get additional vitamins and minerals from eating the butternut squash scraps. But the added bonus is that this gives them something to do during the grey winter months. Chickens can get bored in the wintertime, and they really enjoy keeping busy by scratching the ground to find food in their run. I am happy to support this natural instinct by providing them with food scraps to supplement their diet and overall health.