Just feeding chickens scratch feed & cracked corn.

[Perris]

Heating the soy reduces the phytic acid. The soy meal added to feeds is heat treated enough that it is not a factor anymore.

Soy is added because it has methionine - the amino acid that is the first limiting factor in proteins. It is one of the only plant sources of that - or practical sources, anyway. The next best options either have more/worse antinutrients or are much, much more expensive. Usually both, I think.

but it is available in bioactive form in animal, fish and insects, and their products eg. milk, and they are widely available and sometimes cheap alternative sources of protein.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You still gotta wonder what's in pellet food if even a wild animal wont eat it. Even the local possums and raccoons wont touch the pellets. Food resources actually improve here in fall and winter due to rain (SoCal) but never really go away. Odd thing is despite foraging, they still eat plenty of scratch but not the pellets so I figure there's something in the scratch that they need that is far more nutritious than pellets and they can't get foraging. I put oyster shell in all their food, they don't eat that either but their egg shells are fine other than the two hens that have egg drop syndrome, so they're getting calcium from somewhere. Could be from the grilled cheese sandwich with Tillamook and Brie I share with them! LOL

Scratch tastes better. It's a treat. Mine will eat that over pinkies half the time, and they love pinkies.

As for wildlife nor eating pellets, heck, I wish that were the case. Then I wouldn't be going through as many bags as I am

 

[nuthatched]

I've had 10 chickens and not one will eat pelleted food from four different brands no matter how much I "feed them pelleted food" I just can't force feed it to them. I don't think you understood to what extent THEY WILL NOT EAT PELLETED FOOD. Healthy birds will refuse to eat if the food is not to their taste. I can feed them a piece of wood and they will not eat it even when there is no other option. This really says a lot with regards to what ever is in pelleted food. I suspect it's not actually food but compressed sawdust or something. I can't even use it for squirrel trap bait, even the squirrels wont eat it. The wild birds wont eat pelleted food either. I'm curious why scratch would "slowly kill them." What nutrient is it lacking? Or better still what nutrient is scratch lacking that could not easily be compensated for by grazing for grass and bugs 2-4 hours a day? What evidence do you have that scratch will actually kill a bird? Are there any studies regarding this or is it just one of those opinions passed down by word of mouth with no hard evidence supporting it?

What type of feed are you buying? How old is it? Is it rancid or spoiled? Have you tried other brands or fresher feed? How long did you leave the feed for them to eat?
The age and quality make a difference.
Chickens will always choose the tastier scratch, which is high in fat, carbs and calories and low in vitamins, minerals, protein. It's like I said, junk food for chickens. it should be less than a 10% of their diet. Diets high in carbs and fat cause fat to build up on all of us, but on birds, the fat builds up internally, around the heart, liver and organs, eventually causing them to fail.
Poultry nutrition is one of the highest researched areas of the studies on the planet (every country researchs it heavily), if they could thrive off scratch, we'd feed them that. But they can't in most environments. Unless you having roving flocks of feral chickens in your area, your modern breeds will not get enough nutrients to thrive as they should.
We can show how to find these studies so you can make your own choices I but get the feeling you're not really interested in it anyway.

 

[UrbanGrower]

It's not likely going to be enough, but that all depends on what's in the scratch. Is there a reason you haven't given them a complete feed?

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I know alot of old timers in our area who never feed their chickens anything except scratch and corn, so they will live on it. However, they will not thrive, grow correctly or lay the amount of eggs that they will on regular chicken feed. As someone else posted... it's not any more expensive to give them laying pellets (Or starter / grower if chicks).
You can do a search on BYC and find lots of threads about mixing your own feeds, but for my money, I'll just stick to bag feed.
We do give our chickens a handful of scratch every morning and evening as a treat. More in the winter, less in the summer.

 

[Fred's Hens]

They will live. Barely. But just won't thrive, as others have said. If you have layers and want eggs, you'll have to do better. A nice layer feed.

It's not unlike feeding kids only food from McDonalds. They'll live, sort of, but it isn't healthy.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Fred's Hens :

They will live. Barely. But just won't thrive, as others have said. If you have layers and want eggs, you'll have to do better. A nice layer feed.

It's not unlike feeding kids only food from McDonalds. They'll live, sort of, but it isn't healthy.

 

[AKsmama]

And here is your answer to your egg-eating thread. Your chickens need a better diet, therefore they are eating their own eggs.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
I looked at and replied also in the egg eating thread. Your chickens are in serious need of protein.

 

[Ema]

to be hones this type of diet will lead to deficiencies and more issues. scratch is supposed to be a treat, consider it like junk food for children. And too much corn will just add fat to them which will cause them to become lazy, which again leads to more issues.

a bag of scratch here is 18 dollars for 50lbs and a bag of layer is 15 dollars for 50lbs. I buy scratch but they are limited to how much they get scratch, I also feed them BOSS for added protein.

today like I do once a week I cooked up 3 dozen eggs and added 2 cups of alfalfa pellets (turned to mush by adding hot water) and 2 TBSP of cayenne pepper to the whole thing, served it on a big platter, I then stuck the shells in the oven for a few minutes to quickly dry them up and crushed them up real well for extra calcium.

A good egg comes form a good balanced diet, but that is my opinion.