4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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409 answers in Feeding & Nutrition — page 2 of 18
Never share bread, crackers, chips, chocolate, avocado, onions, garlic, caffeine, alcohol, salty snacks, uncooked dried beans, or green potato peelings with a Muscovy duck. This heavy, dry-foraging breed will methodically eat whatever is scattered, and bread alone fills its crop while crowding out the protein and…
A Merino sheep should never get chocolate, avocado, onions or garlic, raw or green potatoes, potato and tomato plant tops, rhubarb leaves, coffee, alcohol, xylitol-sweetened foods, or mouldy scraps. Rich baked goods are nearly as risky in quantity, because her rumen ferments a sudden load of starch and sugar into gas…
Never share uncooked dried beans, avocado, chocolate, green potato peelings, coffee grounds, alcohol, or heavily salted snacks with a Leghorn chicken. A Leghorn is a lean, high-output layer with a fast metabolism, and the subtler danger is displacement: a crop full of bread and scraps leaves no room for the protein…
Never share bread, crackers, chips, or other salty processed snacks with a Khaki Campbell duck, and keep avocado, chocolate, caffeine, onion and garlic, and uncooked dried beans away from it entirely. Bread is the classic mistake: it fills a small, hard-laying duck with near-empty bulk and fouls the water it must…
Never share chocolate, coffee or caffeine, alcohol, avocado, or rich copper-bearing foods made for other species with a Jacob sheep, and keep it from nightshade waste, fruit pits, and large amounts of onion. A Jacob is a small, primitive breed with an efficient grazer's digestion, so bread, cereal, and sweet scraps…
Never share chocolate, avocado, caffeine, alcohol, or onion-heavy and heavily salted foods with a Dorper sheep, and keep it from nightshade foliage and fruit pits. Sheep are also unusually sensitive to copper, so rich pet foods and mineral-heavy scraps meant for other species are a hidden danger even in small repeated…
Never share chocolate, avocado, coffee or caffeine, alcohol, or sugary processed snacks with a Boer goat, and keep it away from potato and tomato foliage, rhubarb leaves, and the pits and wilted leaves of stone fruits. A goat's rumen is built for browse and hay, so rich human food ferments badly — a bellyful of bread,…
A Wyandotte does best with lean, garden-style treats — leafy greens, chopped cucumber and zucchini, cabbage leaves, and a modest pinch of dried insects — two or three times a week. Wyandottes are easy keepers with a real tendency to round out, so starchy scratch grains and corn should be the rare exception rather than…
A Silkie does well with small, soft treats she can manage easily: finely torn leafy greens, mashed cooked sweet potato, halved blueberries, chopped melon, and a few dried insects. Offer a tablespoon or two per bird a few times a week, and keep wet or sticky foods wiped from her crest and beard, since that famous fluff…
A Rhode Island Red does best with treats that match its hardy, active foraging style: dried insects, a small scatter of scratch grains, torn leafy greens, chopped pumpkin or squash, and a few berries or melon pieces. Keep treats to a small handful per bird a few times a week, offered after the flock has eaten its…
A Plymouth Rock chicken suits hearty garden treats: leafy greens, pumpkin flesh and seeds, berries, melon, cooked squash, and a small scatter of scratch grains for the evening call-in. Plymouth Rocks are calm, dual-purpose birds that lay well and carry real size, and that easy-keeping nature means treats a few times a…
A Pekin duck suits watery, low-energy treats: thawed peas, torn romaine and other greens, watermelon, cucumber, and zucchini, served in or beside water. Pekins grow fast and finish heavy, and extra weight stresses legs that already carry a lot of bird, so keep treats to a small handful once a day at most and steer…
A Muscovy duck suits forage-style treats: peas, torn greens and lettuce, watermelon flesh, cucumber, and insects or worms it hunts or is offered in small amounts. Muscovies are large, quiet, perching ducks that graze more like geese than dabbling ducks, so a modest handful scattered on grass a few times a week fits…
A Leghorn chicken suits light, active treats: leafy greens hung or scattered to peck at, melon and berries, a little cooked squash, and a small pinch of dried insects or scratch grains saved for calling the flock in. Leghorns are lean, flighty, high-output layers, so a small handful per bird a few times a week is…
A Kunekune pig suits low-calorie grazing treats: cucumber and zucchini pieces, leafy greens, celery, green beans, and pumpkin chunks, with small pieces of apple or melon kept as a rarer high point. Kunekunes are a grass-eating lard breed that gains weight on remarkably little, so vegetable treats can appear most days…
A Khaki Campbell duck suits soft, water-friendly treats: thawed peas, torn lettuce and other leafy greens, small melon pieces, cucumber, and a few dried insects as a high-value extra. Campbells are prolific laying ducks with busy metabolisms, but their complete layer feed must stay the main event, so treat handfuls…
A Dorper sheep suits plain produce treats: short carrot pieces, thin apple slices with seeds removed, chunks of pumpkin, and a handful of leafy greens or safe tree leaves. Dorpers are hair sheep bred to flesh easily on modest forage, so a small handful once or twice a week is plenty, and one hard rule protects them:…
A Boer goat suits browse-style treats: a small branch of safe leaves, carrot tops and peelings, pumpkin chunks with seeds, a few apple slices, or a banana peel, all offered in modest amounts. Boers are a heavily muscled meat breed that fleshes easily, and as ruminants they handle rich extras poorly, so a small handful…
A Berkshire pig does best with produce treats: leafy greens, cucumber and zucchini slices, chunks of cooked squash, melon rind with a little flesh, and small pieces of apple or pear. Berkshires are a fast-growing meat breed with hearty appetites, so treats should be a small handful offered a few times a week rather…
For a Tennessee Walking Horse, good training rewards are familiar, low-molasses bites offered in small pieces: carrot chunks cut lengthwise, apple slices with the core removed, or a few plain forage-based treats. Cut round pieces lengthwise so a keen horse cannot gulp a coin-shaped chunk whole, and pay the reward…
For a Shetland pony in training, the safest rewards are tiny, low-sugar bites: small carrot coins, a thin apple slice with core and seeds removed, celery pieces, or a few low-starch herbal pony treats broken in half. Shetlands gain weight on very little, so cut each treat small enough that a whole session's rewards…
Safe training treats for a Quarter Horse are small pieces of carrot, chunks of apple, and plain horse treats made for equines, given a few at a time as a reward rather than a snack stream. Carrot cut lengthwise into sticks is safer than round slices, which can lodge in the throat of a horse that grabs its food. Keep…
The best schedule for a Rhode Island Red whose owner works all day is not set meals at all: fill the feeder and drinker before leaving, and let the hens help themselves to layer feed throughout the day. Rhode Island Reds are active foragers, so free access suits them far better than two measured servings that leave…
The schedule that works best for a Quarter Horse with a working owner is an early morning feed with hay, a slow feeder or generous hay net to carry the horse through the working day, and a main evening feed after work. A Quarter Horse is a grazing animal, so the goal is shrinking the longest gap without food rather…
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