Are there other feeding options?

[U_Stormcrow]

The Irish agricultural development board knows what it's talking about. Here's the pdf which you apparently didn't bother to read (and yes it's about cows, but I've yet to find anything from the pastured poultry sector that compares). No-one is suggesting that chickens can live entirely on grass. The question is, is grass good for them? what's in it?

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I have read it, and won't be faulted simply because you did not understand what you read.

Grass is 83% water, according to your linked source.

Of what remains (17% dry matter), best case, 28% of that is protein. Worst case, just 11%.

Each 100g of grass, therefore, provides between 4.76 and 1.87g crude protein (according to this source - most of the studies I've read have put the high end of total crude protein lower - in the 18% of DM range - with a similar low end.).

Chicken feed is currently formulated, in the main, to provide between 16 and 20g crude protein as a daily ration for the typical feed. To meet that CP requirement, they would need to consume 4 (according to this source, best case) to more than 10 (worst case) times the weight of grass each day to replace 100g of a typical feed's CP. That's 400 to 1,000g per day, or between 1 and 2.2# of grass per day.

My typical production red hens weigh just 4.5# - that's roughly 1/4 to 1/2 their body weight in grass, daily. Just as I said.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

going to add further that their 28% protein "grass" is almost certainly alfalfa. The typical cereal crops - ryes, wheats, kentucky bluegrass and the like are going to come in in the 18-21% of dry matter range at peak season, and the broad leaf/warms season grasses (ranging from Teff to lawn/turf grass) will be yet lower still. My little Bluestem peaks at just 11% in spring. Big bluestem closer to 15. Orchard grass, 12%. Timothy, 8%

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Can they eat it? Sure. Do they eat it? Sure. Is it a meaningful contribution to their diet? Not in the quantities typically consumed. Nor would it be rational to rely on it as a significant contributor to the diet. Its nutritional value is highly variable, by variety, season, condition of the supporting ground, and fertilizers (if any). In short, unreliable. It is, as I said before, a rounding error in nutritional value of the overall diet.

They do better with the things they (hopefully) find in and among the grass. Bugs and (seasonally) nutrient dense seeds. But neither of those things is grass.

 

[Penpal]

I would just like to put in my 2c worth. When I wrote that being free range in the yard was as good as it gets, I wasn't referring to the nutritional content of grass. I was commenting on the much larger space to run around in.

As for nutrition, the yard, especially if there are areas of bushes, gardens, and so on, is probably going to have yummy bugs as well as edible plants that are not grass.

 

[Perris]

https://apppa.org/The-Nutrition-of-Pasture-Raised-Chicken-and-Meats

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I would just like to put in my 2c worth. When I wrote that being free range in the yard was as good as it gets, I wasn't referring to the nutritional content of grass. I was commenting on the much larger space to run around in.

As for nutrition, the yard, especially if there are areas of bushes, gardens, and so on, is probably going to have yummy bugs as well as edible plants that are not grass.

its fine PenPal.

There's a long running difference of opinion between some of the posters on BYC on this particular subject.

It boils down to one side of the argument thinking its great and a fix for many ills, simply because its pasture.

The other side (of which I am one) thinks the benefits are minor, unreliable, highly variable, and not to be counted on. No reason NOT to do it unless you have known problems with your pasture - I do it myself after all - but I don't count on it fixing any deficiencies in my feed, either.

The difference is one of degree and nuance, nothing more, in spite of the language used.

 

[NatJ]

A cow eats for 20 hours a day, has an extremely complicated digestive system and has to spit the grass out and chew it multiple times. That really tells me all I need to know. Neither humans nor chickens can extract sufficient nutrition from grass

Ruminants are animals that actually eat grass to live and they universally have highly specialized digestive systems to process the grass. They also often vomit up the grass to chew it repeatedly

By that logic, a horse cannot live on grass either. But a surprising number of them manage somehow. (Horses are not ruminants, and do not "vomit up" the grass to chew it repeatedly.)

And some sources say that adult geese can live entirely on grass at certain seasons of the year. Geese are birds, not ruminant mammals (so chickens seem more like geese than like cows.)

No, I am not saying a chicken or a human can live entirely on grass, I am just pointing out that your points about cows are not a good way to tell which animals can live on grass and which ones cannot. There are way too many exceptions to make your point useful.

 

[Red Mangrove]

No, I am not saying a chicken or a human can live entirely on grass, I am just pointing out that your points about cows are not a good way to tell which animals can live on grass and which ones cannot. There are way too many exceptions to make your point useful.

You're being pedantic. Horses and geese are not chickens. My point about cows was simply providing an example to demonstrate the complexity involved to digest grass

You're missing the forest for the trees

 

[tlcmurphy]

This conversation has certainly derailed disturbingly fast, WOW!

OP asked if layer feed would be OK for their hens, one person answered their question, then 3 pages Re: grass. To the OP: I originally fed my girls layer feed then switched last year to All Flock (Kalmbach) due to its higher protein. I also offer oyster shell on the side as some of my girls lay. Mine free range for a few hours in the afternoon while I can keep an eye on them, but I don’t worry about whether or not they eat grass as my backyard is entirely weeds.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

This conversation has certainly derailed disturbingly fast, WOW!

Apologies for my part in that.

FWIW I (and many others) recommend "All Flock, all the time" plus fresh clean water and oyster shell on th esides for most BYCers under most conditions. Its a popular opinion here - plenty of upside, only downside is a (slight) increase in price.

I **also** free range - something a lot of people don't have the luxury to do.