Anyone Use Flockraiser for Laying Hens?

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
I have fed even d'Uccles BOSS still in the shell and they ate it fine (with grit available). That is still expensive, too though, lol. I used to buy the shelled sun seeds (human grade) too.

 

[OkChickens]

I have used Flockraiser but i prefer Nutrena All Flock. It is an 18% Protein Pellet feed. I used it with my Turkeys and Ducks when i had them and they did very well on it. My birds waste a lot with crumbles compared to pellets. I feed All Flock from about 18-22 weeks on (depends on breed). It is also the same price here as 16% Nutrena Pellets. More protein for the same money is always a good thing!

Nate

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i don't think they have Nutrena at our feed stores. But i'll ask next time i'm there. As for pellets, i've heard that they are less wasteful. i have bantams, though, and afraid they might be too big for them.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Nutrena All Flock pellets are really quite small. I have bantams in my mixed flock and they have no trouble with the pellets. I've also seen them eat pebbles larger than the All Flock pellets.

Oyster shell on the side, free choice.

I pass a feed store in each direction I go to buy Nurena products, 15 miles in one direction and 35 miles in the other.

 

[Mahonri]

I've used Flockraiser with calcium added before.

Now I use a good mix.

1 part Layena
1 part EggMaker
1 part Flockraiser
1/2 part Gamebird Finisher
.25 parts scratch

They gobble it all down.

Perhaps I'm giving them too much when you include table scraps, leaves and grass.

My SLW that I hatched from kathyinmo's eggs is AMAZINGLY LARGE... and she only lays about twice a week. BUT she is truly eye candy.

 

[Hinotori]

I feed the Flockraiser pellets and offer the oyster shell on the side since I have so many age groups. I had bought a bag of the crumbles and mixed it when the chicks were smaller, and the broodies broke pellets for them. They are all eating pellets fine now. Everyone free ranges all day and I toss a few handfulls of my scratch mix out in the mornings so everyone gets a few bites of that. They've mowed the grass behind the house and are working on the field, so they have a varied diet.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Mahroni - i've never heard of Egg Maker, but just did a search. Is Blue Seal the only ones who make it? That sounds like a great mix you have there.

i wonder if i should try a bag of the pellets and see how everyone does.

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

I adjust a little seasonally, but work from a base of 50/50 Layena/FlockRaiser. My aim is to bump up the protein some to address two issues mentioned up above.

One is to minimize that part of the feather pecking issue related to protein. Pecking as a behavioral/pecking-order issue is quite something else.

The other is that my ladies lay self-collecting eggs. I feed, I water, I clean the pullet palace. Though I've yet to collect an egg, the number of them on hand seem to increase incrementally each day. There's a certain someone about the household who thinks I don't know that she sneaks treats to them more regularly and in amounts greater than what I've told her she should. I tihink she brings the eggs in on her morning visit, but I'm sure she visits them more than once a day.

So . . . worst case is the combination of their feeds and treats leaves them at something more like an overall 16% protein diet (negating my experiment on the feather issue). The reduced percentage of calcium from the combination of feeds is covered with oyster shell.

Lots of folks are quite successful without near so much figgerin', supplying a general flock feed supplemented with oyster shell for their layers.

You'll be fine.

 

[crossgirl]

I use the Flockraiser and feed their egg shells back to them. They free range and get kitchen scraps too. I've had chickens at varying ages of development so that seemed easiest. To help with the waste, I keep the feed bowl in the coop on the hard ware cloth floor. What they throw out falls through onto the ground and someone else comes along and eats it. Usually the lower ones on the pecking order who don't want to eat near the big girls like to feed on the ground. My coop is up pretty high though so that won't work for some people.

 

[digitS']

A chicken's digestive system isn't 100% efficient in digesting eggshells. That is probably true with any nutrient in their feed but I often find bits of the shells in their droppings. So, 1 eggshell does not quite equal 1 eggshell.

Some soils are very high in calcium and it can be right there for the birds to eat as they are free ranging. Also, plants growing in that soil will have a lot of calcium. However, the hen uses up a lot of calcium in the production of her egg.

Flock Raiser has about 20% of the calcium an egg-a-day layer needs. Supplementation is a good thing.

Steve