Good chicken feed vs "scratch"

[MeepBeep]

[quote name="Chickensfan" url="/t/1117212/good-chicken-feed-vs-scratch#post_17213297" corn and grains is perfect food for them. Sometimes i feed them my table scraps. as a little treat, try feeding them watermelon
[/quote]

Corn and grains are not 'perfect' food for chickens this is not smack it's fact, they are not nutritionally complete and thus considered a treat... The poultry industry worldwide has spent millions upon millions studying poultry diets, what chickens need nutritionally is very well documented and corn and grains alone is not going to make the cut by themselves....

As for feeding them other things like table scraps and such, sure again treats are fine but too much can unbalance their diet...




Edited by Staff

 

[Chickensfan]

feeding them a little corn and grains is perfectly healthy. (for my chickens anyway) Edited by Staff

 

[Stephine]

Thank you guys. I get it. Corn and wheat are not a complete food for chickens, nevertheless they can be a valuable *part* of their diet. It is confusing to hear people say it is junk or like candy, etc. Those are not helpful ways of stating the issue. Not junk, not like candy, just incomplete. That makes more sense.
Thanks again!

 

[hamard]

If scratch is so bad for chickens why does Purina sell it in 50 lb bags?

 

[hamard]

I agree!!

 

[AmyPaperlady]

If scratch is so bad for chickens why does Purina sell it in 50 lb bags?

It's not bad as a snack, but it's not enough as a full diet. Like humans and, say, oatmeal--oatmeal is good for you, but if you ate nothing but oatmeal, you'd start having vitamin deficiency diseases like scurvy, maybe beri-beri and so forth.

 

[ShanandGem]

I use scratch grains as the base for my homemade chicken feed. In my case, it's a base of oats, wheat and cracked corn. I agree with you that chicken feeds seems to have a lot of fillers in it and I lost some chicks to nutritional deficiencies on my first batch, which is when I did a LOT of research and started making my own feed. It isn't cheap, but I now have a 100% survival rate with my chicks and everyone is healthy and happy. It also ferments beautifully (and fast) because it is real whole foods.
Feel free to PM me if you would like me to share the recipe.

 

[BruceAZ]

i checked the back of a bag of scratch

under ingredients "grain by-products"

and that's it

i'm going to pay a bit more and order from a buyer club.. at least it will be organic, non-gmo and the ingredients are listed

http://www.phoenixorganicfeed.com/prices.html
http://dykbz.vcmjx.servertrust.com/product-p/scratchphx.htm

 

[speckledhen]

Not all "scratch" is created equal. The difference, really, is protein levels. Laying hens need at least 16-22% protein. Corn is about 8% and most 3-5 grain scratch mixes are 8-9% protein.

For my scratch, I use two things, depending on what the co-op has. One is a 12% protein "Knockout Game Feed" with 11 grains. Another is a 13-grain cock conditioner feed that is 16% protein that adds two types of peas. It also has granite grit included so it can be fed to roosters exclusively. But, the main feed in EVERY pen is a good quality laying mini-pellet by Tucker Milling. If many are molting, I use the 22% Super Layer.

The scratch is put into peanut butter jars so I can shake it and the sound calls them home from wherever they are. Each group gets a handful thrown into their pen each a.m., NEVER put into their feeders or they'd eat only the grains and not the complete layer feed with the added vitamins and calcium. The 13-Way conditioner is $15/50#. The Knockout is close to that. Regular 3 or 5 grain mixes cost me almost as much and do not provide nearly the same protein.

I have very healthy and some very elderly birds who still lay (going on 10 years old) and that's pretty much all I do, other than occasional plain yogurt for probiotics, sometimes mixed with turmeric or garlic. I don't feed organic or non-GMO, nor have I jumped on the fermented feed bandwagon, just to tell you how I feed and what has kept my birds healthy and producing up into their golden years. Non-GMO is not necessarily organic, though some folks get them confused, and if it's concentrated on wheat and fish meal, not corn, it can lead to necrotic enteritis, studies have shown. Non-GMO corn based feeds are very expensive and I cannot afford that, nor do I feel it's necessary. Mine get to free range almost daily so get greens and bugs out there in the pasture area.

I think people have over-complicated the feed issue, JMHO, costing them way more than needed. Good, fresh feed proper with adequate protein levels geared to the age and function of the bird and clean water are the basics. If they are not sabotaged by their sucky genetics (hatcheries, don't even get me started on their terrible stock), they have the potential, barring predation, to live quite a long time, at least a dog's life and produce eggs longer than most folks think they do, albeit at a slower rate in later years.

 

[ShanandGem]

Not all "scratch" is created equal. The difference, really, is protein levels. Laying hens need at least 16-22% protein. Corn is about 8% and most 3-5 grain scratch mixes are 8-9% protein.

For my scratch, I use two things, depending on what the co-op has. One is a 12% protein "Knockout Game Feed" with 11 grains. Another is a 13-grain cock conditioner feed that is 16% protein that adds two types of peas. It also has granite grit included so it can be fed to roosters exclusively. But, the main feed in EVERY pen is a good quality laying mini-pellet by Tucker Milling. If many are molting, I use the 22% Super Layer.

The scratch is put into peanut butter jars so I can shake it and the sound calls them home from wherever they are. Each group gets a handful thrown into their pen each a.m., NEVER put into their feeders or they'd eat only the grains and not the complete layer feed with the added vitamins and calcium. The 13-Way conditioner is $15/50#. The Knockout is close to that. Regular 3 or 5 grain mixes cost me almost as much and do not provide nearly the same protein.

I have very healthy and some very elderly birds who still lay (going on 10 years old) and that's pretty much all I do, other than occasional plain yogurt for probiotics, sometimes mixed with turmeric or garlic. I don't feed organic or non-GMO, nor have I jumped on the fermented feed bandwagon, just to tell you how I feed and what has kept my birds healthy and producing up into their golden years. Non-GMO is not necessarily organic, though some folks get them confused, and if it's concentrated on wheat and fish meal, not corn, it can lead to necrotic enteritis, studies have shown. Non-GMO corn based feeds are very expensive and I cannot afford that, nor do I feel it's necessary. Mine get to free range almost daily so get greens and bugs out there in the pasture area.

I think people have over-complicated the feed issue, JMHO, costing them way more than needed. Good, fresh feed proper with adequate protein levels geared to the age and function of the bird and clean water are the basics. If they are not sabotaged by their sucky genetics (hatcheries, don't even get me started on their terrible stock), they have the potential, barring predation, to live quite a long time, at least a dog's life and produce eggs longer than most folks think they do, albeit at a slower rate in later years.

Well put, although I would counter that making your own feed once you have done some study is really not complicated.