Are They Eating Too Much Calcium?

[Altairsky]

Then I would trust the chickens. They're good at choosing the right amount of what they need.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

Then I would trust the chickens. They're good at choosing the right amount of what they need.

Now I know to just not trust them to regulate the treat intake! Everything else, I'm now more confident that they're golden.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Now I know to just not trust them to regulate the treat intake!

Trusting chickens on treat intake is like putting all you can eat bacon in front of me and thinking I'll stop at 2 pieces...

 

[Altairsky]

Now I know to just not trust them to regulate the treat intake!

They self regulate on treats too.
Chickens might overeat things they know are scarce. But if they have an infinite amount of any treat, they will soon ignore it.
My chickens will get bored of any treat if there is an over abundance of it. Bugs, cheese, meat scraps... I had them leave behind the most delicious things.
The most obvious example: I have 2 feeders in my coop, one always full of scratch (perris recipe) and one always full of processed feed. My chickens will eat from both. Sometimes they'll eat more feed than seeds depending on what they feel they need the most. My molting chickens will prefer chickstarter over scratch or layer, for example.
Most people think their chickens can't self regulate simply because they don't give them a choice. The 10% rule is actually false.

 

[Perris]

Most people think their chickens can't self regulate simply because they don't give them a choice. The 10% rule is actually false.

Exactly.

And often what people label as 'treats' and compare with ultra-processed human foods like sweets or bacon are actually healthier than some of the **** that goes into ultra-processed so-called 'complete' feed. People often don't know (and can't tell from the label) what went into making that homogenised stuff in the bag.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

They self regulate on treats too.
Chickens might overeat things they know are scarce. But if they have an infinite amount of any treat, they will soon ignore it.
My chickens will get bored of any treat if there is an over abundance of it. Bugs, cheese, meat scraps... I had them leave behind the most delicious things.
The most obvious example: I have 2 feeders in my coop, one always full of scratch (perris recipe) and one always full of processed feed. My chickens will eat from both. Sometimes they'll eat more feed than seeds depending on what they feel they need the most. My molting chickens will prefer chickstarter over scratch or layer, for example.
Most people think their chickens can't self regulate simply because they don't give them a choice. The 10% rule is actually false.

It's true that this is what I was originally thinking too. They didn't immediately eat it all, they go after the BSFL for around two minutes and then leave half of it. It's fully gone in ~40 minutes. It is important to note that if I touch their water they go crazy for water suddenly. The BOSS lasts them 2-3 hours. I remember reading that naturally occurring non-processed fat contents are actually quite healthy. I was using the BSFL and BOSS mainly to increase their protein to 20%. The only treat I questioned before the start of this thread was the watermelon. However, chickens don't have the bacteria we have in our mouths that make our teeth rot. Despite my ramblings, I'll play it safe just in case. I recognize, as said in Please Don't Overfeed Treats, that my older pullets are eating significantly more than the younger. I was wondering if my older pullets were eating balanced or not because they clearly ate the most of everything from feed to treats to calcium. I also recognize that the post never provided enough details to know if their hen's ancestry was prone to obesity, or their feed and actual ratios. Nevertheless, even if my top BR pullet is only 0.1 pound heavier than comparable BR pullets 4 weeks younger than her, I will be cutting down, at least in half (because then it would be surely less than 10%), so my flock is more safe than sorry.

 

[Perris]

Despite my ramblings, I'll play it safe just in case

and what makes you think that giving them less real food and more processed stuff is playing it safe?

Birds that are fed nothing but commercial 'complete' feed typically live 2 years maximum (i.e. industrial chickens; most backyard ones get 'treats', i.e. real food, more or less often). They are then killed, if not before. So the long term effects of a purely 'complete' feed diet are not relevant to the industry, and not studied by the industry. If you want your birds to live longer than 2 years, 'complete feed' is not obviously the 'safe' option.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

and what makes you think that giving them less real food and more processed stuff is playing it safe?

Birds that are fed nothing but commercial 'complete' feed typically live 2 years maximum (i.e. industrial chickens; most backyard ones get 'treats', i.e. real food, more or less often). They are then killed, if not before. So the long term effects of a purely 'complete' feed diet are not relevant to the industry, and not studied by the industry. If you want your birds to live longer than 2 years, 'complete feed' is not obviously the 'safe' option.

Every bit of food listed except the kalmbach and the watermelon is organic, free of fillers such as corn and soy, and free of pesticides or other harmful substances to my knowledge. There is a reason I use a majority Scratch & Peck despite the prices. I'm crazy about my chickens, what's more to say?

 

[Altairsky]

What perris is trying to say is that chicken feed is processed food, no matter if it's organic or not, it's ultra processed. Ultra processed foods are inherently unhealty.
What we call "treats" and considered unhealthy are actually more natural and healthier than processed feed.
Ultra processed foods have been proved to cause a wide number of serious illnesses in humans, from rheumatoid arthritis to cancer and diabetes, there are plenty of studies about it.
Watermelon, minced beef, fruit, cottage cheese, yogurt are all healtier foods than processed feed however they are considered unhealty treats in the chicken community.
If everyone agrees that ultra processed food is unhealty for humans, then it makes no sense to say it's healthy for chickens.
Organic = better than non organic and processed feed = better than natural non processed treats are both outdated concepts. Organic processed food is as bad as non organic processed food.

 

[Perris]

Every bit of food listed except the kalmbach and the watermelon is organic, free of fillers such as corn and soy, and free of pesticides or other harmful substances to my knowledge. There is a reason I use a majority Scratch & Peck despite the prices. I'm crazy about my chickens, what's more to say?

I get that. I was concerned that you were going to start denying your chickens real food in favour of more processed food because of what other people have said in response to your question.

Regarding the extent to which a processed feed (organic or otherwise, expensive or otherwise) delivers everything that a normal backyard chicken needs, consider whether or not it is recommended for breeding birds.

If it is not, then it is missing something(s) that are needed to make healthy chicks. Chicks with deformities are usually the result of the parent birds being fed a nutritionally incomplete feed (whatever claims are made on the bag): it might have the minimum required to produce an egg for the table, but it does not contain all that's needed to grow a healthy chick from that egg. That's why there are 'breeder' rations, and they are not the same as 'layer' rations; they contain nutrients that are not present in so-called/ misleadingly labelled 'complete' layer rations.