Scratch?

Most commonly sold scratch is merely three grains.  It's purpose is to provide some "chickens, come here!" training.  It can also be sprinkled on the ground and the chickens will provide some minutes of amusement and enjoyment for the flock owner.  At TSC, the bags were tagged with a warning label that stated that "this isn't a complete feed and should constitute only 10% of the chicken's diet".  FWIW

 

It's nutritional value is limited.  Typically, the protein level is around 9%.  Finally, it is expensive.  Around here, scratch is just as expensive as a nutritional balanced feed.

 

No, your chicken's don't NEED it.  If you wish to buy and use scratch, the typical 3/4 grain stuff?  Sure.  Why not.  But it is hardly required.

scratch is more like a filler.your birds would die if thats all you fed them..Freds numbers are right.its basically kool-aid and crackers lol ;)

Is it necessary? Usually not.

Can it be useful? Sometimes, depending on your circumstances.

Should you use it? Basically you can think of it this way. If you're feeding a typical 15-16% protein complete layer ration to birds that are not free ranging (confined in a yard, run, tractor, etc) then at most give them half a handful of scratch feed per bird in the morning. If you want to fool with it at all. I personally do not for my tractored birds. They get their complete layer ration and pasture. Nothing more.

If you are free ranging your birds however and the ground they are foraging on is any good at all then you can feed more scratch if you like. Still not really necessary but it can train the birds as Fred says to come to you when you want them to. You should be looking over your flock every day because this is how you spot incipient problems before they become major ones. May also be useful to get them back into their yard or run if you need to lock them up before sundown. I think it best to feed scratch in the morning so that they can go to roost with a crop full of their layer feed which is when they will be building their eggs.

I use a little whole corn with my free ranged birds but no scratch at all with my tractored birds. Useful in some circumstances, not in others, not really necessary in any.

Scratch is a holdover from the days before commercial feeds when farmers needed to supplement the diet of hens that were subsisting on free-ranging and table scraps. It's what was available and cheap. I have a book from 1895 that warns it's readers that "the village hen" is too fat because of overfeeding of scratch. On the other end of the spectrum, people are now overfeeding meal worms. The high protein content can cause kidney failure. For the backyard chicken keeper, the best thing is to provide laying hen pellets, free choice calcium, and lots of greens. I have more here:http://hencam.com/faq/what-to-feed-your-chickens/

But, it's true that scratch is like Candy to hens. I keep some reserved for when I call my hens back to the pen. They know I have it and they come running! I've got a funny video of that here: http://hencam.com/faq/getting-your-hens-to-come-when-called/

Scratch is a great training tool, my chickens get a handful each day.  First I shake the container and call them, then scatter some around.  They love it and come running every time - never have any problems getting the birds in when they have been out free-ranging.  It also provides a little environmental enrichment, as they run around and scratch through the dirt to find the morsels.

 

It should not consist of a very large part of the diet, as stated above, as it is high in fat and low in protein.

 

 

For the most part scratch is any grain/ s that is pitched on the ground to encourage natural scratching of the ground.

 

 

 

No, chickens don't need scratch but it is all ways nice to offer some.

 

 

 

Scratch has a few benefits, although it is low in protein it is a good source of energy, vitamins and minerals.

 

 

 

It depends on how you are feeding it, most people here on BYC that use scratch more as a treat, now there are a lot of breeders [myself included] that will use scratch as a supplement in the poultry diet.

 

There are people [mostly here on BYC] that think scratch is just like "chicken candy" and it has no nutritional value and is a "filler" or that scratch will make you birds fat, overweight and lazy but for the most part those statements are just as incorrect as corn or scratch overheating your birds. 

 

 

Chris

Chris is correct, of course.  If whole grains are used in a planned, overall diet plan, they can serve a great purpose.  Some custom scratch grains, purchased from better sources, have very nice ingredients.  Sometimes as many as 6 or 7 specially blended grains, seeds, nuts, peas, etc.  These kinds of products are far different.

 

Remember, Chris and other breeders/keepers also do the math on the over all package.  For example, if one feeds a supplemented Vita-Pak the is used at local feed mills, such as Chick En Egg Concentrate from Hubbard, one can blend this concentrate and employ the use of scratch grains in an entirely different way than someone buying pre-sacked feed at a retail outlet store, such as TSC.  

 

For most backyarders, the 10% scratch rule isn't a bad place to start in planning your birds' nutrition.

I don't know who first stated the statement that scratch is "high in fat" but when comparing most types of scratch to most of poultry feeds out there that statement is incorrect.

 

Example --

Purina Scratch Grain is not less than 1.5% fat [much like all scratch grain], now there Flock Raiser is not less than 3.5% fat, Layena Plus Omega 3 is not less than 3.25% fat and Layena is not less than 2.50% fat.

 

Buckeye Nutrition is not less than 2.0% fat, there 20% Golden Standard Laying Pellet is not less than 3.0% fat.

 

 

Chris

Fred,

I think there are a lot of people on BYC that either don't read there feed tags or don't know how to read them. If they did then they would know like you, myself and a few others on here that most poultry feed is made up of a lot of grain and that there is not much difference between the grain in the "regular" poultry feed and scratch grain.

 

Chris