Can they do good with just free ranging and snacks

[Painted Calls]

There all grown now thanks for all of the feedback. We got our first egg from our easter egger

Congrats!!!

 

[CoconutCoffee]

When my brother had chickens they were just given scratch while free ranging. He kept complaining about not getting eggs. He lost some hens due to predators but I took the surviving one and fed her a proper diet. She started laying within 2 weeks or so. They were completely baffled by it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

When my brother had chickens they were just given scratch while free ranging. He kept complaining about not getting eggs. He lost some hens due to predators but I took the surviving one and fed her a proper diet. She started laying within 2 weeks or so. They were completely baffled by it.

No doubt that is influenced by the numerous posters commenting on how our parents, grandparents, great grandparents fed their chickens nothing but kitchen scraps and the occasional spilled seed, forgetting that the birds were smaller, slower growing, tougher on the table, laid less frequently, AND had opportunity to gobble up all the feed missed by the rest of the barnyard animals - which we backyard owners mostly don't have.

Nostalgia is a powerful influence on memory. Reality tends to be far less rosy.

 

[Chicken poppy]

No doubt that is influenced by the numerous posters commenting on how our parents, grandparents, great grandparents fed their chickens nothing but kitchen scraps and the occasional spilled seed, forgetting that the birds were smaller, slower growing, tougher on the table, laid less frequently, AND had opportunity to gobble up all the feed missed by the rest of the barnyard animals - which we backyard owners mostly don't have.

Nostalgia is a powerful influence on memory. Reality tends to be far less rosy.

My grandmother fed her chickens moldy bread. mildew, rotten scraps and diseases surely cant be that bad right?
(of course, thats horrible. please dont do that. My grandma doesnt own chickens anymore!)

 

[Isadora]

My grandmother fed her chickens moldy bread. mildew, rotten scraps and diseases surely cant be that bad right?