Alternative to Scratch feed???

[sodamancer]

my chickens love the oats leftover that the goats dont eat and the soaked milo barely mix. i dont feed pellets any longer just fodder and whole seeds and oyster shells.

 

[FattyMcChicken]

I have been reading on feeding wheat grass and barley grass. There is a company online that provides organic kits.

Organic wheat grass kits:
http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/wheatgrasskit.htm

 

[LittleSongBird]

We have used Black Sunflower Seeds in the winter time as a scratch feed. They love it!

 

[CSWolffe]

With only 4 hens, it's not really cost effective to pay for custom mix scratch, and one bag of scratch from the tractor store lasts me about a year(stored properly).
I keep 20% Layer pellets available at all times, and only offer scratch as a special treat, usually when guests come over to fawn over the girls(I let my guests fee them treats). I offer them kitchen scraps, and they forage about my small urban lot all day long. More treats are really the last thing they need(though my kids disagree, and often sneak out hand fulls of quick cook oats, sunflower seeds, or anything else they can find in the cupboard).
Cost considerations aside, corn is perhaps the worst thing you can feed any animal. It's the most genetically modified food available, is the most likely to have hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals contaminating it.

 

[Arizona Son]

So if scratch is just a treat, is there anything wrong with giving them Horse rations that I'm already buying?

I'm trying to cut down on all the different bins of feed I'm collecting with each animal I add to the farm

I feed my flock "horse rations" as you put it, LOL, as an occasional treat. They seem to enjoy it every now & then, but aren't overly enthusiastic about sweet feed. I havent heard of, nor had any undue health concerns with this being a (small) part of their diet.

I thought I had read somewhere to NOT give scratch when the weather warms up. I thought I read where it was good to give when the weather was cold because their bodies warm up trying to digest.

I have read that as well, but then also read several different nutritional experts say this was a fallacy - an old wives tale that is still being falsely passed around. For what its worth, I live in one of the hottest places in America & my chickens eat scratch year round without issue.

Chicks that don't eat cracked corn ? Mine act like it is the greatest thing ever we call it "chicken crack" lol!

Same here, they will run each other over to get to it!

 

[TofuKat]

We've been using a handful as a tool to help tame our new flock, but I reckon I will switch to just boss over the summer. I always learned that corn raises livestocks' body temps--although, I must say this was ages ago in 4H and pre-internet so my knowledge could definitely be wrong.

Plus, we have a spare 50 pounds of boss to go through now that we had to stop feeding the wild birds in favor of our flock... Once our girls get a smidgen more tame we'll probably cut out all treats except for veg/fruit since the regular feed is complete.

 

[lab.adore]

I have fed my chicken a molasses goat feed for years with no issues they just eat out of the goat feeder. I have 17 fancy chickens

 

[centrarchid]

I use scratch at times and have occasionally noticed the birds not being all that interested in the corn component which makes me think the corn may not be good. Alternatively I also use intact / whole corn which they can pound down just fine. You can also used soaked whole grain like oats which even my free-range birds go after with gusto. The soaking initiates the germination process which for some reason makes it more enticing to the birds. I also add a little whole corn. Mix of this sort during winter makes so I do not have to use nearly as much water and with free-range birds they will often loose interest in water if they get enough soaked oats. The only time my free-range birds do not seem interested in scratch or soaked grain is when the grasses serving as forage start coming into seed. At those times it becomes very evident birds are cherry picking the seed heads from plant tops.

 

[Lisasfeathers]

I give mine cockatiel seed mix fortified with vitamins mixed with some grit only as an occasional treat. If its winter time i give scratch mixed with black oil sunflower seeds, safflower seed and sometimes i add peanuts and raisins or cranberries or cherries to it.

 

[Reurra]

I have to ask, is Scratch necessary for their health? I havent given my girls scratch for a while. Ive read people giving black oil sunflower seeds....are those the kind people buy for wild birds? I want to buy some but not sure whats safe. Can they eat them in the shell?