sweet feed for chickens

wendamus said:

My feed store charges $8.99 a bag for sweet feed, and $17.99 for chicken feed. Both are %16 protein.

I'd like nutritional reasons I couldn't sub in some sweet feed. Right now my eggs cost 3x store bought eggs, its not cost effective.

"Its not appropriate" isn't enough. I have read back threads with vague advice. I would like to see required protein, carb and vitamin content so I can compare with the label.

My chickens free range over 1/4 avre, and supplement their diet with bugs and stolen garden bits. They're not fat, they get plenty of exercise.

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Most sweet feeds are 8-12% protein. I have never seen a sweet feed with 16% protein,but if indeed it is thats a plus. The second factor is sweet feed doesnt have the calcium added that laying hens need. As others have noted chickens can get too much mollasses and have digestive issues and become sickly,primarily in young birds though. That being said I do mix it in at times with laying pellets,or grower etc.,but I never go more than 50%. The primary issue with hens laying optimally is 16-18% protein and the added calcium.

We use layer crumbles as feed in the morning, they pasture all day, and they get sweet feed for dinner. So far it seems to be working great. Our chickens appear healthy, regular poop, proper weight, very firm eggshells, and shiny-shiny feathers. Sweet feed makes up only 1/2 their diet at most though. They have unlimited access to grit and oyster, as well as well water, which has a high calcium content as well (it's practically liquid rock here).

It is best to avoid sweet feeds in a chicken's diet. Various forms of sugar are used as bulking agents in some vitamin preparations and should be avoided. Too much sugar can create a thirst and predispose birds to bowel problems. There's a big difference between that and naturally occuring Fructooligosaccharides which feed the good probiotic bacteria in the birds intestinal tract.

I feed it to my goats and the chickens cleanup the leftovers. Other than that they fend for themselves as free rangers. All I provide is shelter at night and best boxes. Giving free range birds grit is a waste of money as is feeding them more than just to supplement. They are capable of feeding themselves.
That being said, in the cold of winter I will feed them corn just to supplement a bit more. I also plant ryegrass in the fall to help my animals and birds with greens. I'm in central louisiana so we have much shorter winters here.

Why do my ducks and chickens literally crazy over sweet feed ? They attack it seriously. Even my skidish ones come to me but only for sweet feed ! Is sweet feed even on to give to them ?

bradygv68 said:

I feed it to my goats and the chickens cleanup the leftovers. Other than that they fend for themselves as free rangers. All I provide is shelter at night and best boxes. Giving free range birds grit is a waste of money as is feeding them more than just to supplement. They are capable of feeding themselves.
That being said, in the cold of winter I will feed them corn just to supplement a bit more. I also plant ryegrass in the fall to help my animals and birds with greens. I'm in central louisiana so we have much shorter winters here.

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. This is what my neighbors do, which is why their birds are constantly coming on my property to eat my birds feed.

Chickguy74 said:

. This is what my neighbors do, which is why their birds are constantly coming on my property to eat my birds feed.

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And look at all the free fertilizer you get on your yard. Lol
I font have neighbors, so it's not a problem. People need to be considerate.

I am feeding my girls layer pellets free feed. But I have a cob mix of corn barley oats and molasses that I ferment for them. They get a ration of the fermented brew in the morning freed feed pellets and range the back area daily. I noticed their pooh mostly firmed up rather than diarrhea. Some one in the group is runny some times but mostly firm as in solid. They are perky energetic and seeming in harmed at present. The ferment pretty much eats up a great deal of the sugar part brews excess b vitamins in the process and is loved by the girls. Haven't tried feeding it dry to them though. Only in the ferment. As a result of feeding the wet fermented feed, they tend to eat less pellets and drink less water. So far I am happy with the molasses in the feed and haven't noticed a serious effect in my flock of 15 chickens and 4 muscovy ducks.

I am curios how this worked out for those who have tried it. I ran into the same thing here and have been feeding it to my chickens because the cost was so much cheaper than layer or all flock pellets. Well I will say that so far, I have about 40 plus chickens, they have about 4 acres to roam on and are healthy. Here is what I have seen so far; My egg production has dropped I know some of it has to do with molting however I am getting about 1 egg a week I would guess. Also my chickens are pooping like it is going out of style, my coop is a disgusting mess after a week. I am going to switch back to all flock pellets and see what happens. They will only get the leftover sweetgrain that the cows and sheep don't eat.