Alternative to Scratch feed???

[venus]

I give mine scratch, but they too do not eat the corn. But they sure do like it when I throw it in there ;-) I use a lot of garden scraps in the summer too then I don't feed as much scratch. I always have layer mash and oyester shells available.
This year I am going to plant a special "chicken garden". Lettuce, nasturtiums, sunflowers, kale and spinach around the coop for them to eat and for me to easily access for them. Plus it will dress up the outside of the coop

I think I am going to check out the feed store special blending too and get rid of the corn. You can get just plain oat feed for horses.. it is a thought. This winter I fed some BOSS... OMG did they go CRAZY for that stufff!! It was a VERY cold winter here so I gave them scratch every moring and they had a block in their pen too.

What is BOSS?? I'm from New Zealand and don't recognise this food. Is it a seed, a vegetable, or something else?

My girls love scratch, corn on the cob, peas, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage leaves, broccoli leaves and yoghurt. I spoil them rotten so they get scraps and treats most days. They repay me by laying four eggs between the four of them every day.

 

[Habibs Hens]

What is BOSS?? I'm from New Zealand and don't recognise this food. Is it a seed, a vegetable, or something else?

My girls love scratch, corn on the cob, peas, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage leaves, broccoli leaves and yoghurt. I spoil them rotten so they get scraps and treats most days. They repay me by laying four eggs between the four of them every day.

Black oil sunflower seed

 

[Reurra]

I havent had a problem with spillage since getting the 5lb hanging feeders. They hand at neck level so the birds can flick it. They can reach it with ease, but they remain upright when they eat instead of head down. Since doing this, I havent had spillage and the empty the feeders in about a week.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I put scratch under their roosts in the morning so they "make their beds," meaning they scratch around fluffing their bedding and mixing in the poo so there are no clumps and is no odor. I also sometimes toss some scratch out in the run before I gather eggs to lure all the fakers out of the nesting boxes.

About food waste: when I was using store-bought feeders and feeding crumbles we were going through a crazy quantity of feed. One day I paid very close attention to what was going on and my flock wasted 90 lbs of feed before noon. You read that right ... 90 lbs, 3 feeders full, nearly 2 bags of feed. They just beaked it out of the feeders and then ignored it. I tried to get them to clean up the mess by not giving them more food, but feed on the floor gets nasty pretty fast.

We switched to feeders we made from large drain pipes -- a longer length of drain pipe as the "hopper" attached to a shorter piece by an angle connector, the shorter piece has large holes drilled on top (all edges are sanded smooth). The curved sides of the pipe and the holes mean they can't beak the food out. But crumbles didn't work very well in these feeders. We switched to pellets and this system is working great, whole grains would also work well in feeders like these. We go through a lot less feed, and if any pellets get spilled the flock cleans them up before they start to get nasty.

After switching to the home-made feeders I had to remove and replace the deep bedding in the coop because it was so rancid and nasty from all the feed that got mixed in. I kick myself for not figuring out what was going on sooner, but I was new to chickens and having to figure out SO many things. And I have so many chickens.

Repeating myself: I'm not at all happy with commercial chicken feeders or waterers.

 

[Mister B]

I'm growing some sunflowers too. My plan is to deadhead them and throw the whole thing into the chicken pen during the Fall/Winter.

 

[Mr farmer]

I feed my chickens their chicken feed and some vegetables on the side daily, they love it a lot. ( 6 barred rocks, 5 buff orpingtons, 5 cinnamon queens, 5 Easter eggers, and 5 astrolorps.)

 

[DixieChicken78]

Quick question: can they have the Quaker oats that you make oatmeal with?

 

[OldGuy43]

Quick question: can they have the Quaker oats that you make oatmeal with?

The quick answer; Yes! Ours love them cooked, but there's nothing wrong with raw.

Sidebar: The only difference between instant and original is how their ground.

 

[DixieChicken78]

The quick answer; Yes! Ours love them cooked, but there's nothing wrong with raw.

Sidebar: The only difference between instant and original is how their ground.

Thanks!!

 

[TERRY4]

I feed my chickens their chicken feed and some vegetables on the side daily, they love it a lot. ( 6 barred rocks, 5 buff orpingtons, 5 cinnamon queens, 5 Easter eggers, and 5 astrolorps.)

This is exactly what we do. I sometimes throw some out in the pen, and they can scratch and be chickens. We do have them in a grassy area. We have a bigger grass area hooked to this pen, that we'll be opening up when it grows deeper. They'll love that. It'll be the "chicken jungle". Lol.. We have 5 barred rocks and 1 rhode island red.