Am I feeding them everything they need???

[natsum1978]

I have 5 hens and they are around 4 months old. I am currently giving them Grow mash, chicken scratch, water of course, all the greens from the garden they can eat. The greens include turnip tops, carrot tops, lettuce, radish tops, spinach. They also eat all the bugs they can catch in the yard for a couple hours a day. Am I missing anything?? I keep reading about grit and am not sure if I'm meeting their needs. They are really big and very healthy looking. They seem happy but I just want to make sure. Thanks

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I think you're giving them everything they could possibly need.

.....Alan.

 

[tiffinimarie]

I think that if they are eating anything besides chicken mash that they need grit to help digest it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you read this article. I think it gives good guidelines.

Oregon State - Feeding Chickens
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/pnw/pnw477/#anchor1132074

Since you let your chickens roam 2 hours a day, your circumstances are different than the basis of the article. They are getting a lot of extra stuff that is not considered in that article, seeds, greens and vitamins as well as bugs. I do think you need to pay a lot of attention to the comments on scratch however. It's like feeding candy to a child. A little is OK but it is easy to give too much.

If they are roaming a couple of hours a day, they are getting all the grit they need. Don't worry about that.

When you switch from grower to layer, you might cut backa bit on the greens from the garden so they will eat a bit more layer. It has extra calcium and other stuff they need for egg laying. Again, since you let them out as you do, it is not that big a deal since they are getting quite a variety while they are out. They will get calcium from some of the stuff they eat while out, such as bugs. If you are in limestone country, they will get extra calcium from the grit they pick up. But watch your eggs once they start laying and let the chickens tell you if they need extra calcium. If the shells are thick enough, you are doing things right concerning calcium. If the egg shells are thin, you should offer oyster shell free choice.

Sounds like you are taking good care of your chickens. All this is not an exact science for us backyard hobbyists. If we were running a commercial operation with 10,000 laying chickens in each of 5 chicken houses where they never get out to roam and chase bugs, it would be different. But our chickens can thrive in a wide variety of conditions if given a chance.

 

[flockof4]

If they're laying, offer some oyster shell free choice. A little extra calcium wouldn't hurt.

 

[natsum1978]

Maybe I will go get them some grit. Do they sell a specific type at the feed stores? Do I just put a dish of it out or do I just throw it around like scratch? They are not laying yet so I think I can hold off on the oyster shells.

 

[12GAGirl]

I just sprinkle the grit in the layer feed along with the oyster shell.
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[Ridgerunner]

I know a lot of people do and it works for them, but I do not mix grit or oyster shells with the food. The grit is not nutritious. They will get enough if it is offered free choice. Why take up volume of food by forcing them to eat something that is totally non-nutritious. It shouldn't hurt them, but I certainly do not see that it helps anything.

The oyster shell is another issue to me. If you have a rooster, he will do OK eating the layer with the extra calcium in it, but he really does not need a lot of extra calcium. As an adult, he can handle more calcium than a chick, but excess anything is really not any better for them than extra anything is good for you. The hens are pretty much the same thing although they absolutely need more calcium than a rooster. They normally get all the calcium they need from the layer and can get extra calcium from limestone they use as grit and from bugs they eat if it is available, but offering it free choice will not hurt anything. But if they are getting enough, why force them to eat more by mixing it with their food?

At my age, I get annual blood tests. Have been for a while. The results don't normally have just a specific minimum that is considered good. They normally have a range, a high and a low. Outside of that range can be bad. Having too much of something can be as bad as having too little, depending on what it is. I can verify that you don't automatically drop dead the instant something gets out of range, any more than a chicken will automatically drop dead if something is out of range for them. But I cannot personally see any benefit to putting extra stress on my internal organs or whatever potential damage excess or too little of anything does to me.

Do as you wish. Just my personal opinion.

 

[elmo]

I offer grit in a separate cup, and when my hens started laying, I also offered oyster shell in a separate cup. I like to be able to keep an eye on how much they're consuming so I know when to offer more.

 

[BarredBuff]

Sounds like well cared for hens to me....