Feeding corn in summer time

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CutestChickenFarmer

CutestChickenFarmer

Songster
12 Years
Jun 26, 2007
132
4
129
Delaware
Hello folks, I don't know bupkus about feeding chickens (hopefully I'll be learning from all of you!) but I do know that corn is a no-no for horses in hot weather, and it seems to hold true for chickens, too.

Corn increases the animal's body heat, keeping them warm in the cold months. With all the good summer produce around, corn-based snacks or scratch is probably best left to chillier weather.

That's just my 2 cents! I've seen it come up in several posts, so I thought I'd mention it. If anyone has other experience with corn in the summer for their chickens, please fill us in!

Susan
 
Yes, you are right. We discussed this a few days ago on another thread and I think the consensus was to try and not use too much corn in the scratch during hot weather. Maybe only using it at the end of the day when the effect of digestion heat would occur during the cool of night. I bought a bag of oats this week when my corn-based scratch ran out...unfortunately, while the flock may be cooler, they are not as happy. They miss their corn...
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I've started mixing my scratch, which comes with a little bit of corn, half and half with BOSS (black oil sunflower seed) which I buy at Walmart. The oils are good for their feathers, ads good oils to the eggs, helps prevent egg bound, is loaded with protein, cuts way down on the amount of corn given, and, best of all, they love it. Although it did take some time for them to figure out those black things were food....
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I pay under $15 for a 50# bag and I get it at Walmart because I'm there every other week. Sorry, but I don't know where else to buy it but I imagine any feed store that sells wild bird feed will have it, though. hth.
 
Just be sure not to change their feed too much. A change in feed can push fowl into moult. I've also heard that feeding whole corn to hens can convince them to set. The build up of heat helps give the hen the "fever" that they get when they get broody. Whole corn also gives off more heat and provides more protien than cracked corn which is what you see in alot of scratch grain mixes.
 
Everytime you "process" the grain you lose a little something. Well, when the chicken craw "processes" the whole corn it has to work a little harder than when it has to process the cracked pieces.
 

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