Wild Bird Seed

[ChickenEllis]

A lady who works at the local feed store was telling me that she mixes wild bird seed into the regular feed for her flock of chickens. Does anybody else do this?

What nutritional value is there in wild bird seed?

 

[artsyrobin]

i use it as a treat, say i want them to go back in the run, they also like black sunflower seed, cracked corn- this time of year when its cold, it helps them stay warm. But it should be a treat not the bulk of the diet

 

[Hillbilly Hank]

The first place my chickens go when i let them out is to the bird feeders to get the seed the birds knocked on the ground.

 

[Tala]

I use it instead of "chicken scatch" --- much cheaper since I don't use very much of it. I can get a bag of cheap bird seed for ~$2 at WalMart to use for "lure" treats.

I buy BOSS by the 50# bag though, because it's more nutritional.

I do NOT mix any treats with their regular feed, because they would dig through the pellets to get the treats out!!! Too much wasting feed!!

 

[ChookHappy]

I use it more so for a "lite" version of scratch occasionally and use it in my flock blocks. The nutritional value of the kind I am using right now which was just a discounted bag that had a hole in it from Safeway is as follows: Crude Protein, min 10% Crude Fat, min 3% Crude Fiber, max 10%. The ingredients are White Proso Millet, Grain Products, Sunflower. MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS. lol my chooks wouldn't be so lucky and what is this Grain Products I'm feeding my girls!?

 

[ChickenEllis]

Thanks for the info. I have been trying to up the protein that my girls have been getting because of a feather eating problem so i will only use the seed sparingly.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
Feed them "Flock Raiser".
It's 20% protein, and is as cheap as layer pellets

http://poultry.purinamills.com/OURPRODUCTS/Products/FlockRaiser/default.aspx