Pellet vs Free Range/Foraging

[Aunt Angus]

I'm currently trying to boost my flock's health after a bout of problems.

They currently get All Flock pellets with oyster shell on the side. I rarely give treats (maybe, like, 2x or 3x in the summer to combat heat - that's it). Fresh water daily. Spot clean coop daily, full clean weekly.

So I've been reading a lot about diet. I'm seeing some conflicting info. Of course balanced commercial feed is good, but what about free ranging/foraging? Is that overall detrimental to their health since it isn't balanced commercial feed?

I was thinking about starting a fodder system, but don't want to detract from a balanced diet. I also allow my birds to forage in the pasture daily, and I'm wondering if that's diluting their nutrient intake.

It seems counterintuitive to think that free ranging could be bad for them, but I've read several blogs/articles and a lot of BYC posts suggesting that anything other than pellets (i.e. letting them free range/forage) is bad for them. It's been suggested to me that I should stop letting them consume anything other than pellets, and I'm wondering if that might be better given that these birds are essentially laying machines...

Thoughts?

 

[Weeg]

So I've been reading a lot about diet. I'm seeing some conflicting info. Of course balanced commercial feed is good, but what about free ranging/foraging? Is that overall detrimental to their health since it isn't balanced commercial feed?

There is quite a controversial opinion on this topic.
Some say absolutely nothing should be fed to a chicken other than a complete and balanced diet. I agree with this, for the most part. As you know, anything bagged, dried, or sold as a chicken treat is no good. Its likely high in fat, with very little nutritional value. Causes fatty liver disease etc, you already know all of that.
But, I really think that greens, spouts, and anything green is very beneficial, and important in a chickens diet.
Chickens eat a diet mostly of grains. They're built for that, but it also means its low in antioxidants, and omega 3's are always helpful since grains are very very high in omega 6's, which create inflammation. Another touch on this, big brand chicken feeds can contain waste kitchen products. So basically whatever is leftover from grain based people food. This can be bread, baked goods, etc. That is going to be very high in omega 6's. There are lots of plants, such as hemp seeds, that have omega 3's. Antioxidants are very important since we all have free radicals, which creates oxidative stress, premature aging, cancer, and lots of other diseases. If you don't get antioxidants, you will succumb to those side affects. Thats why chickens should get lots of forage, fruits, and plants, especially laying hens who age so quickly.
For these reasons above, I think that greenery, forage, leafy greens, and non starchy vegetables and berries are incredibly important for chickens.

I was thinking about starting a fodder system, but don't want to detract from a balanced diet. I also allow my birds to forage in the pasture daily, and I'm wondering if that's diluting their nutrient intake.

I think a fodder system is a great idea! Feeding additional things to chickens can be tricky. The problem with anything sold as a treat for chickens is that it has little to no nutritional value. There for it is only diluting the nutrients in a feed. When your taking leafy greens, forage, fodder, and especially micro greens, those foods are very high in nutrients, and very bioavailable as well. With that in mind, greens/forage shouldn't be diluting the diet to the point where it is causing harm. I personally think that it is doing so so much more good than harm.

As you know, my opinion is likely going to be different than others opinions. I do a lot of research on natural nutrition for my dogs, and a lot of it is linked since you feed dogs chicken. You are what you eat when it comes to nutrition, so a poorly fed chicken that you feed to a dog is going to be a poorly fed dog. Because of that I do a lot of research regarding poultry nutrition as well. I'm fairly confident in my opinion.
Oregano is a fantastic immune booster, along with Echinacea, lemon balm, high quality probiotics, ginger, and most all other herbs.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Do you allow your flock free access to the pellets while they free range? I feel like that is an ideal situation. Mine free range most of the day, but will also go back to the run to grab mouthfuls of crumble a couple times a day as well. They seem to know what they need to eat and left on their own, don't fill up on any one type of food. Berries are normally considered a treat, but while foraging, mine will eat a few strawberries or beautyberries and then move on with out stripping the plant.
Another consideration is that the exercise from free ranging allows for more leeway in their diet. If they are doing laps around a couple of acres, their needs are different than birds confined to a few hundred square feet.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm one of the "complete feed" people. I'm ALSO one of the "free range" people. And I will say again, anything other than a commercially complete feed has the *potential* to imbalance your chicken's diet.

@NatJ has the right of it, if "free ranging" means turning birds loose in a perfectly manicured residential backyard of zoysia or bermuda grass, or St. Augustine or whatever, surrounded by equaly well manicured lawns and residential pest control, there is a lot of potential for imbalance. Same if their range is acres of sunflower seed, or a corn field, or even a sea of clover. Its magical thinking to believe a balanced meal comes out of a single (or substantially a single) ingredient.

Monocultures are bad, because the chickens have no choice. If they are hungry, they will eat. Monocultures of particularly high energy/fatty feeds (sunflowers, corn, etc) are like sticking sodas, chips, and candy bars in front of teenagers - ruins their dinner.

Feeding something less than a commercially complete feed and then setting your birds loose to free range in hopes it will fix a deficient diet is likewise magical thinking. Unless you have deliberately planted fields to compensate for known feed deficiencies. Which, honestly, is a level of foresight, planning, and execution well beyond the typical poultry owner.

If you are going to free range, and if you plan on their foraging being a substantial portion of their diet, the first thing you have to do is stop pretending. There are *NO* gurantees. There is, however, intelligent risk management. Keeping their complete feed available at all times is a form of risk management - if the nutrition they need isn't currently in their forage (out of season, buried under snow, simply not present), they have complete feed available. Deliberately planting a polyculture - and I don't mean three varieties of grass - but rather a diverse mix of grasses, grains, near grains, legumes, pulses, and all the rest - at least gives the birds a choice - in hopes that they will select during their foraging a mix of plant life (this also attracts a mix of insect life - yum!), and any imbalance will be kept to a minimum, while the period in which the plot is productively "in season" is extended.

Is it nutritiously optimum? No, probably not. Is it Perfect? Nothing is. Is it a reasonable response to address the known deficiencies of monocultural plantings? (to say nothing of the way those degrade the soil over time) Yes, I think so.

"Better than the Alternatives" is good enough for me.

and if circumstances or resources make sprouting trays, rather than forage plots, the most practical solution? then I encourage you to follow the same thinking - don't offer the same ingredients, day after day, month after month. Variety helps avoid imbalance.

 

[Coops Dad]

Our chickens have free access to 6 acres of tall grass pasture plus the two acres of lawn around the house plus whatever they feel like roaming of the 10 acres of native grass up front. They have full time access to 18% all-flock and crushed oyster shells, plus kitchen scraps. Their joy is first- kitchen scraps, second- foraging, and third- pellets.

I use a disc harrow behind my tractor to improve the soil surface on some areas that I can exclude the chickens from entering, planting purple vetch, field peas, fava beans, white clover and other legumes. I spent two days and about $75 in seed on an acre+ behind the tractor shed. When it was nearly mature, I opened it up to the chickens and they had- ahem- a field day.

The seeds that fall and aren't eaten have kept that area pretty much a mix of pasture grass and cover crop, and it's loaded with bees, butterflies, birds, etc. I cut it to the ground every fall after first frost and run the disc harrow over it at the shallowest setting to renew the surface, turn in the seed and incorporate the organic matter.

Even my lone White Leghorn, a three year old ball of nervous energy (and who still lays 5/wk), gets a little chubby off of that patch.

 

[Shadrach]

The giant pink elephant in the room called reality.

First I would like to apologise to @Aunt Angus for my part in the thread drift. There is no satisfactory answer to your question. I would always choose ranging with commercial feed as backup for any chickens I cared for provided I had chosen the breed of chicken suitable for the circumstances in which they would live.

I’ve read with incredulity on this thread and others extreme views on what should and shouldn’t be fed to what is an omnivorous creature. I’ve read about how much healthier modern chickens are compared to those kept by our grandparents. I’ve read how the science applied to chicken feeding has increased the productivity of the hen and improved the hens health. I’ve read that by ranging chickens where they may eat less than optimal foodstuffs that this may harm there overall health. Then there is the debate based on the safety of the chicken when ranging. For some it is irresponsible to range chickens because of the risk of predation and it is recommended to keep the chickens confined in a secure coop and run.

In the picture below are two hens on their first day out that are the product of these wonderful advances in chicken keeping and chicken health. They’ve eaten nothing but commercial feed, never been exposed to the dangers of free ranging. They’ve been carefully bred with the aid of some of the best genetic science available. They’ve been kept in well ventilated and pest free environment providing clean water and constant access to commercial feed. If they are lucky they might just struggle to 4 years old, finally succumbing to one of the cancers common to high production hens.

On the other hand here is a pair of dirt scrabbling mutts who have eaten everything from mice to Orkney mature cheddar cheese. Every day they risk predation by free ranging. Given a choice they’ll drink from a muddy puddle. No scientist has improved their health with careful breeding, special diets and ideal keeping conditions. If they can dodge the predators and keep out of fights they may live to ten, or twelve years old.

How you keep your chickens is your choice; unfortunately for the chicken.

 

[Shadrach]

Your post asks about health benefits.
The most important part of ranging out of a coop and run is excercise! Chickens are no different from any other creature in this respect. Fit chickens tend to be healthier than chickens that are bored with limited opportunities to carry out natural behviour. Natural behaviour includes things like running, flying, digging, bathing and investigating new things.

I took over the care of a group of Ex Battery hens and rescue chickens including a rather difficult rooster. The transformation has been quite remarkable. Sure, I've improved their feed in in both quantitly and quality, and yes they get commercial feed. What has made the most difference is they get out of their run for a few hours a day onto an allotment.
The run as one might expect has been stripped bare of anything worth eating but more important, anything of interest. Outside the run is a massive playground by comparison and the chickens are active rather than standing around waiting for their next meal.

 

[NatJ]

So I've been reading a lot about diet. I'm seeing some conflicting info. Of course balanced commercial feed is good, but what about free ranging/foraging? Is that overall detrimental to their health since it isn't balanced commercial feed?

It seems counterintuitive to think that free ranging could be bad for them

Whether foraging and free ranging is bad for their diet depends on what they are finding when they forage.

For example, eating green grass and scratching up worms from a compost pile is likely to be fine.

But if they find a lot of grass seeds and not many bugs, that has about the same nutritional effect as eating a lot of extra grain and not enough protein. (Like when people offer too much scratch.)

And if they forage in a place with spilled grain (like in a barn with other livestock), or pizza (like a place where people eat lunch and think it's fun to feed leftovers to the birds), I think it's obvious what effect that would have on their diet.

It's been suggested to me that I should stop letting them consume anything other than pellets, and I'm wondering if that might be better given that these birds are essentially laying machines...

If your chickens are having health problems,
and if you think those health problems might be related to their diet,
then it might be useful to limit them to only a complete commercial feed, to see if that helps.

A month or two would probably be long enough to show if it makes a difference.

As the seasons change, so do the things they can forage, so they will naturally eat more or less of the commercial feed at some seasons. So if you think about what has happened during the course of the year, you might notice if they are better or worse at what seasons, and see if that correlates with how much of what they eat.

I would probably let them keep foraging unless you have reason to think their diet is causing a problem, but limiting them to commercial food is definitely a safe thing to try, and has a chance of helping (depending on what their actual problem is.)

 

[Suzzers]

I'm currently trying to boost my flock's health after a bout of problems.

They currently get All Flock pellets with oyster shell on the side. I rarely give treats (maybe, like, 2x or 3x in the summer to combat heat - that's it). Fresh water daily. Spot clean coop daily, full clean weekly.

So I've been reading a lot about diet. I'm seeing some conflicting info. Of course balanced commercial feed is good, but what about free ranging/foraging? Is that overall detrimental to their health since it isn't balanced commercial feed?

I was thinking about starting a fodder system, but don't want to detract from a balanced diet. I also allow my birds to forage in the pasture daily, and I'm wondering if that's diluting their nutrient intake.

It seems counterintuitive to think that free ranging could be bad for them, but I've read several blogs/articles and a lot of BYC posts suggesting that anything other than pellets (i.e. letting them free range/forage) is bad for them. It's been suggested to me that I should stop letting them consume anything other than pellets, and I'm wondering if that might be better given that these birds are essentially laying machines...

Thoughts?

Free ranging is definitely not bad for them, that sunlight is good for the hen's egg production, and all the good nutrients they find in bugs or whatnot are very good for them and their eggs. I personally have a diet of half good organic pellets and half free range, but that's just what keep my hens healthy. Definitely keep letting them free range, and since you seem to have them for laying, that extra sunlight and nutrients make the eggs even better for your purpose! I wouldn't cut either out entirely, a even balance seems good though.

 

[Weeg]

This also makes sense. I can guarantee there are no pesticides, but maybe something has changed in the environment. I don't think they are getting into anything funky, but maybe what was good for them isn't growing anymore.

I don't free range. I wouldn't have a flock long if I did. I'm not making excuses. It's true. There are 3 hawks in the trees over the coop as I type. And I see foxes and raccoons daily and bears pretty regularly. And skunks. But the flock has a pretty large fenced and covered pasture available to them all day. I take them for very closely supervised walks at least 3x per week. I really do the best I can.

Maybe I'll put back what was lost? Idk. There are no easy fixes or answers. Only semi-educated guesses.

If your worried about the pasture having less nutritional value than before, why not seed it with healthy cover crops? Hairy vetch, field peas, oats, sorghum, and millet are all good choices. Lots of those are actually common ingredients in chicken feed. Millet, sorghum, and field peas.