Picky eaters for homemade feed?

[backyardaustralorps]

I feed my black australorps a combination of Purina layer feed and homemade feed. They also have free choice crushed oyster shells and grit.

The homemade feed consists of corn, wheat, sunflower, millet, oats, kelp, meal, and a half dozen additional types of small seeds along with a few other grains.

The chicken love everything except the wheat - they pick out everything and leave a feeder full of wheat.

They will bregeudingly (and slowly) eat the wheat the second day if no new food is provided, but it is not a balanced meal anymore at that point and I want to consistently provide balanced food. Does anyone else have picky eaters like this? I feel bad to not refill their food when they leave the wheat items behind, but also want to encourage them to eat everything. Any suggestions?

 

[Aapomp831]

I feed my black australorps a combination of Purina layer feed and homemade feed. They also have free choice crushed oyster shells and grit.

The homemade feed consists of corn, wheat, sunflower, millet, oats, kelp, meal, and a half dozen additional types of small seeds along with a few other grains.

The chicken love everything except the wheat - they pick out everything and leave a feeder full of wheat.

They will bregeudingly (and slowly) eat the wheat the second day if no new food is provided, but it is not a balanced meal anymore at that point and I want to consistently provide balanced food. Does anyone else have picky eaters like this? I feel bad to not refill their food when they leave the wheat items behind, but also want to encourage them to eat everything. Any suggestions?

There’s no such thing as a picky eater chicken. I would stop with the homemade feed (it had way too much filler in it, too many carbs - corn and oats are treats that should be fed in moderation). Leave out their pellets and oyster shell and let them be. They WILL eat before they starve to death. Coddling them and assuming their picky eaters is like enabling them - they are going to expect this royal treatment always and that’s just not sustainable or practical in the long run.

 

[3KillerBs]

This is why pellet feed and crumble were invented -- to prevent the chickens from gorging on the chicken candy and failing to eat a balanced ration.

 

[backyardaustralorps]

Thank you both for the replies, they are much appreciated and helpful. I will up the pellet/crumble feed significantly.

Are there any suggestions for homemade feeds that would avoid the problems I am encountering above? (With the chickens picking out their favorite bits only). It seems like some people on this forum are able to do it successfully and I was curious what enables that.

Do most people on Backyard chickens prefer to feed exclusively pellet/crumble feed? (aside from calcium/oyster and treats) This is my first time raising chickens, and my only prior experience was with my grandparents who had healthy chickens that lived off their farm scraps and never had any pellet food; then again that was a long time ago.

 

[neo71665]

Your grandparents chickens prolly free ranged and was out there eating far more than just table scraps.

 

[3KillerBs]

This is my first time raising chickens, and my only prior experience was with my grandparents who had healthy chickens that lived off their farm scraps and never had any pellet food; then again that was a long time ago.

I do not use homemade feed, but I do give my chickens a lot of garden weeds and some kitchen scraps so I buy the highest-protein layer pellets I can get.

The thing about the old-time methods of feeding chickens farm scraps is that those chickens were nowhere near as productive as chickens are today. For example, a little while back someone linked a .pdf of a book on chicken farming from 1921 where the key to profitable chicken keeping was getting 100 eggs per year per hen -- from LEGHORNS! Today we'd expect that from Brahmas.

Additionally, when hens roamed around old-fashioned, diversified farms they had access to a lot of food sources that we might not think about as backyarders -- including undigested feed from the manure of cattle and horses and the bugs that infested said manure.

 

[tigger19687]

You can always just toss a handful of you homemade scratch out in the run for them to peck and scratch for. I put some hay/straw out so the seeds or what ever falls u der it and they gave to look for it.
But just a handful scattered other wise they will again only have that.

 

[backyardaustralorps]

The thing about the old-time methods of feeding chickens farm scraps is that those chickens were nowhere near as productive as chickens are today. For example, a little while back someone linked a .pdf of a book on chicken farming from 1921 where the key to profitable chicken keeping was getting 100 eggs per year per hen -- from LEGHORNS! Today we'd expect that from Brahmas.

Additionally, when hens roamed around old-fashioned, diversified farms they had access to a lot of food sources that we might not think about as backyarders -- including undigested feed from the manure of cattle and horses and the bugs that infested said manure.

This makes a lot of sense, thank you!

 

[backyardaustralorps]

You can always just toss a handful of you homemade scratch out in the run for them to peck and scratch for. I put some hay/straw out so the seeds or what ever falls u der it and they gave to look for it.
But just a handful scattered other wise they will again only have that.

Yes, I think that’s what I’ll be using the homemade feed for going forward. Well their food bill just dropped dramatically, the homemade food wasn’t cheap!

 

[Ascholten]

Starvation is a powerful motivator.
Don't coddle them, put out the balanced feed and don't put more out until they eat it all. Trust me, they'll eat it when they get hungry enough. It sounds mean but you gotta tough love them for their health. Be their parent, not their best friend.

Aaron