Bulking up on grass

[Der Alte]

My pullets, about nine weeks old, have gotten so much bigger since they have been outdoors all day feasting on grass and whatever else they find. Then, when they go inside their house for the night, they gather round the feeder and eat as though they haven't had a thing all day. Their pop door is open all day so they could go inside anytime for some feed if they wanted any. They have waterers both inside and outside.

We recently had rain every day for over a week so they weren't out much and they seemed to slim down a touch. After a couple of days outdoors, they are bulking up again.

I'm suprised that grass seems to make them grow faster than just starter feed that has a lot of protein and some fat in it.

They are happy, active and look very healthy though, so I'm sure all that grass plus the feed must be good for them.

Der Alte

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

one nice thing then is they do eat when they get the time
and grass has lots of Omega3 in it
so they are happy and healthy chickens

 

[moenmitz]

We have 38 large breed chickens (33 layers, 5 roos, last count) They free range all day. They have access to 12 acres, but choose to graze & forage on only an acre or two. We fill a thirty pound feeder with a mix of corn, soybean meal, wheat, oats, grit, diatomaceous earth, & a mineral "base" mix, about once a week since the grass came up. They have access to it all day, but they much prefer the bugs and grass. During the winter, they empty the same feeder every 2-4 days, depending on the temperature outside. We get approximately 24 eggs every day, even in winter, with exceptions during extreme weather. During the winter we did provide them with a few extra hours of light-timer switched it on from 4 am to 8 am, when it got light out, dark was here by 5-6 pm.

So, yes, to keep them healthy and laying well, you do need to provide a balanced feed mix, even in summer, but, you WONT spend a significant amount of time or money feeding them.

Beware, however, that you will be very likely sucked into spending hours watching "chicken TV" during nightly chores and will be shocked at the amount of time that escapes you. Chickens are very distracting....

 

[moenmitz]

Hmmm....not sure what happened, I posted the above comment under the topic about self sufficiency...and it showed up here...so I apologize for the complete lack of relevance to YOUR topic!

 

[whippet128]

Young grass is about 20% protein. I think that is what it tested at. I notice my birds get bigger when eating grass. Plus they are using less energy to stay warm. I am sure that there is a lot more minerals and vitamins in it also.