Re: what to feed chickens?

[Guest guest]

--- Becky,

They love scrambled eggs. You can even hard boil the egg and feed it

shell and all, just break it up some for the little chicks. Some times

we feed our little ones(we started at about 5 days old)bread soaked in

raw milk. Someone on another message board wondered whether chickens

can digest raw milk. Seems like they could and do. I give ours whey

and yogurt too. They eat sprouted grains too. Wheat? oats? Or

cracked grains and rolled oats. You can give them fish meal when you

want more protein in their diet. The eggs might taste a little fishy

when they get too much fish.! And earthworms, bugs and grasshoppers.

Here in KS we have lots of bugs this time of year so ours get bugs

too. Add a little green grass.They like some greens better than

others. Hope this keeps them healthy. One thing you want to watch with

baby chicks is that they don't over eat. They don't know when to stop

so the first few days or weeks, I'm not sure how long, you don't give

them all they want. Dennis

In @y..., " beckymauldin2001 " <beckymauldin@h...>

wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I finally have my very own chickens! They are so neat! I've been

> giving them feed store laying pellets and cracked grains since I'm

so

> new at this...They do get a few hours of free ranging in the

> evenings. I am trying to figure out if I can make my own feed for

> them. What do you folks do? If this has already been addressed in

> the archives, I'm sorry, but I could not locate it. Any pointers

> would be great!

>

> Becky

[Guest guest]

I have buff orphingtons, barred rocks and aracana hens. The roosters have

already been butchered and consumed. The roosters were absolutely huge,

their drumsticks were more like a smaller turkey drumstick. Obviously they

are very healthy and their meat is absolutely delicious. The eggs yolks are

a dark orange in color and so tasty. Here's what I feed them...

Baby chicks - the first two weeks a little liver and hard boiled eggs - I

also grind up my regular mix a little smaller for them. After that they are

outside and on their own.

Full grown hens - they get a mix of organic cracked corn, hard red winter

wheat, split peas and oats. Depending on the time of year, in the winter I

put about twice as much corn in as wheat as the corn helps to keep them warm.

I mix it in a garbage can - 50 pound bag of cracked corn, 25 pound bag of

wheat, peas for color and some oats for digestion. Using a large yogurt

container I would probably put in about 5 scoops of corn, 2-1/2 scoops of

wheat, 1/2 scoop peas, 1/4 scoop oats.

In the spring, summer, fall mine are free range probably four days and in

their pen probably three. It depends how many days I feel like sharing my

garden. Although the garden is fenced they can find numerous ways to get in

if there's a speck of romaine lettuce showing (their favorite!!!) They roam

all over the flower beds and stay off the lawn. Sometimes I have to broom

off the driveway or sidewalk but for the most part they stick to where the

bugs are.

In the winter months they are penned up a lot more so I supplement their diet

with sprouted kamut and sprouted lentils. The sprouted kamut is high in

protein the sprouted lentils are high in lysine. Most people have problems

when they aren't feeding soy as the chickens are low in lysine. Sprouted,

the lentils lysine levels are higher than soy.

Anytime I have extra eggs, the chickens get them. I hard boil them, toss

them in the food processor and feed them back to the chickens. Also, they

get all the table scraps. I just toss the scraps in the compost pile and

what they don't eat starts composting.

ly, I don't think you need to mix your grains all up. If you put corn

in one container, peas in another, wheat in another, I think they would eat

whatever they needed when they needed it.

In addition, they get clabbered milk each day. The stinkier it is the better

they like it. For 24 chickens they probably get 1/3 - 1/2 gallon a day.

With the first round of baby chicks I really struggled trying to feed them my

own mix however I was determined not to feed them any soy or fish meal. I

had crooked beaks, leg problems, etc HOWEVER I kept them in the brooder for

the recommended eight weeks under light, etc. After watching the mother hens

with their babies I learned very quickly they are much healthier when they

are outdoors. Now they go outside on day three - five either with a broody

hen or with some type of a heat source. If they are with a hen, as soon as

they get cold they just climb under their mama. On day 10-14 they are on

their own and they do just fine. The mama will ditch them about then. I put

a nest outside for them to climb into in case it starts to rain or gets

windy.

And of course oyster shell and grit.

My hen house doesn't stink and I have no flies. When they are eating a

pellet, their droppings are slimier and stink. I use straw in the hen house.

Every couple months I take some of the straw out and add some more to it. I

never remove all of it as it seems like the old straw is almost a starter

like sourdough that helps keep the smell down. In the winter time if it gets

real cold I put a little water on the straw and let it start composting as

that warms the hen house up.

I have ducks too and they get the same mix the hens get. It took them a

little while to acquire a taste for the clabbered milk but they finally got

to where they will drink/eat it. Have fun with your chickens.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/3/2002 11:35:46 PM Central Daylight Time,

dee@... writes:

>

> Also, learned older hens are more likely have problems with the shells

> being weak. I'm going to do more research on that.

>

> Rondi

Kale helps solve that problem. I planted some in the hen yard under a screen

type thing. We move the screen a little bit now and then and our shells are

wonderful!

As for feed, we do a mix of ground corn and whole wheat with not that much

wheat as it is costly.

Belinda

[Guest guest]

So, what do they eat for protein? Are they free ranging for bugs?

MIne are in a chicken tractor for most of the day, which is moved

across our pasture once each day, then we also let them out for 3-4

hours in the evening. So, would my chickens be finding enough

protein on their own or should I give them something besides grain?

> As for feed, we do a mix of ground corn and whole wheat with not

that much

> wheat as it is costly.

>

> Belinda

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks for all the advice! We have a couple of buffs, a rhode island

red, and black australorps. The buffs are my favorite so far.

My main concern is the source of protein if they are not eating

commercial feeds or doing lots of free ranging. So, sprouted kamut

and lentils would work for this? Why the kamut? Would any sprouted

wheat work? I don't have any excess milk to spare, so that's not an

option...

I'm assuming you don't soak the other grains you give them. So, they

are whole grains, right? (except for the corn)

Once the chickens found the garden the other day, it's been a trick

to keep them out of there! Getting a good fence up has become a

priority now.

Thanks for the help!

Becky

> I mix it in a garbage can - 50 pound bag of cracked corn, 25 pound

bag of

> wheat, peas for color and some oats for digestion. Using a large

yogurt

> container I would probably put in about 5 scoops of corn, 2-1/2

scoops of

> wheat, 1/2 scoop peas, 1/4 scoop oats.

>

> In the spring, summer, fall mine are free range probably four days

and in

> their pen probably three. It depends how many days I feel like

sharing my

> garden. Although the garden is fenced they can find numerous ways

to get in

> if there's a speck of romaine lettuce showing (their favorite!!!)

They roam

> all over the flower beds and stay off the lawn. Sometimes I have

to broom

> off the driveway or sidewalk but for the most part they stick to

where the

> bugs are.

>

> In the winter months they are penned up a lot more so I supplement

their diet

> with sprouted kamut and sprouted lentils. The sprouted kamut is

high in

> protein the sprouted lentils are high in lysine. Most people have

problems

> when they aren't feeding soy as the chickens are low in lysine.

Sprouted,

> the lentils lysine levels are higher than soy.

>

> Anytime I have extra eggs, the chickens get them. I hard boil

them, toss

> them in the food processor and feed them back to the chickens.

Also, they

> get all the table scraps. I just toss the scraps in the compost

pile and

> what they don't eat starts composting.

>

> ly, I don't think you need to mix your grains all up. If you

put corn

> in one container, peas in another, wheat in another, I think they

would eat

> whatever they needed when they needed it.

>

> In addition, they get clabbered milk each day. The stinkier it is

the better

> they like it. For 24 chickens they probably get 1/3 - 1/2 gallon a

day.

>

> With the first round of baby chicks I really struggled trying to

feed them my

> own mix however I was determined not to feed them any soy or fish

meal. I

> had crooked beaks, leg problems, etc HOWEVER I kept them in the

brooder for

> the recommended eight weeks under light, etc. After watching the

mother hens

> with their babies I learned very quickly they are much healthier

when they

> are outdoors. Now they go outside on day three - five either with

a broody

> hen or with some type of a heat source. If they are with a hen, as

soon as

> they get cold they just climb under their mama. On day 10-14 they

are on

> their own and they do just fine. The mama will ditch them about

then. I put

> a nest outside for them to climb into in case it starts to rain or

gets

> windy.

>

> And of course oyster shell and grit.

>

> My hen house doesn't stink and I have no flies. When they are

eating a

> pellet, their droppings are slimier and stink. I use straw in the

hen house.

> Every couple months I take some of the straw out and add some more

to it. I

> never remove all of it as it seems like the old straw is almost a

starter

> like sourdough that helps keep the smell down. In the winter time

if it gets

> real cold I put a little water on the straw and let it start

composting as

> that warms the hen house up.

>

> I have ducks too and they get the same mix the hens get. It took

them a

> little while to acquire a taste for the clabbered milk but they

finally got

> to where they will drink/eat it. Have fun with your chickens.