chicken scratch

[canesisters]

I just buy the cheap wild bird seed at the grocery store and give them a couple of handfulls when I visit every evening.....

 

[kreagerm]

I make my own scratch for my chickens. I just give them a little containers worth every few days and this gives them something to do through out the day. I fill my run with leaves so they have to keep digging through the leaves to find the scratch.

I like to buy bulk seeds from my local Mill.
50# BOSS
50# Millet
50# Cracked Corn
50# flax seed (don't mix a lot in the scratch, I use about #25 in my scratch)

You will find buying bulk seeds from the a Mill will be A TON cheaper then buying a bag of pre-made scratch. For all these I spent less then $100 with the flax costing the most.
Next time I'm at the feed store I'm gonna pick up some other grains to throw in there as well.

 

[aoxa]

I just buy the cheap wild bird seed at the grocery store and give them a couple of handfulls when I visit every evening.....

Wild birdseed is expensive compared to scratch grain. You can get scratch grain (4 or 5 grains) for $13 here for 50 pounds. Wild bird seed is probably more than triple that cost.

Though my chicks LOVE millet. I haven't bought wild bird feed since I expanded to so many

 

[Chris09]

Ok cool! Is it ok for chickens even though it says Pigeon?

It's just fine for them.


Chris

 

[5th lake chick]

thanks for all the replies and discussion, I really learn alot- better then trial and error. My birds thank all of you! The only layer feed I could find only had 16% protein. do I need to supplement? I do give veggie/fruit scraps from the house.

 

[5th lake chick]

what do you mean by 50% lettuce?

 

[aoxa]

what do you mean by 50% lettuce?

50% off lettuce. Like discounted lettuce Should have explained that better!

16% layer is okay, though 20% would be better.