Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Miss Lydia]

I thought they took animal protein out of feed because of the mad cow scare some years ago. My chickens love meat and I supplement it into their diet also my Muscovies love meat.

 

[delisha]

I feed all kinds of meat and bone. I might have to invest in a better grinder for bone meal if the prices keep going up.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Fred............ I may dabble in trying to make my own pelleted supplement loaded with animal protein, I think I have the workings and may be able to make a good little bunch at a time and won't cost me hardly anything.

Please make it soy and GMO free and you have me ready to buy.
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ETA: I purchase feed from a local mill and specify the ingredients I do and do not want in it. I can't imagine just buying feed off a shelf. My purpose in having the chickens in the first place is that I want healthy eggs and meat, not just a repeat of what I can get elsewhere. My feed does already have fish meal but I think I'm going to ask them what other animal protein sources they can include. And..I ABSOLUTELY HATE feeding any legume seed (lentils, peas, beans, etc.) as I don't think that is something that is natural to their diet. Just my opinion based on common sens I think.

 

[bruceh]

Bruce, can you give a source for that? A lot of times these things get taken out of context or just bluntly misrepresented by people with an agenda. I like to go to the source to see what is really going on.
Thanks.

i will get a source for you. this information came from my mill. i wanted some animal proteins in my feed. i was willing to buy a ton of a custom blend. this the information i was told by the mill owner. the mill i use is called hoke mills in abbottstown pa.

 

[unkadan]

bruceh, old joke from the midwest

remember the guy in your high school yearbook voted "most likely to sackseed",,,,that was your mill owner

 

[bruceh]

Al, if and I say if, the world goes insane and all feed sold is vegetarian, I'll be hooking up with a meat processing place, even just a small butcher shop or whatever, and filling an old freezer with the meat/fat scraps. Then, I'll thaw a pound or two and toss it to the birds. Might should be already doing this. Your plan sounds great. I'll just keep things as simple as I can. But without meat, no chicken is going to be healthy. That much I know.

fred i was thinking of doing the same thing. i can't find anything around here in feed that contains a good meat source. we have a ton of butchers around here. with that sais no butcher here will do a chicken reasonable. the last butcher i went to for processing a bird wanted 6.50 a bird.

 

[Beekissed]

I gave my flock deer trimmings of fat with muscle/tendon attached....it was all gone the next day. I have more stored for giving them until the next deer kill, so each day they get a little deer scraps in the coop. The deer are pretty fat from all the excess acorns this year, so this is a good year for harvesting fat.

I always give them the chicken offal and, if they can run in and snatch any from the dog, any turkey or chicken carcass leavings.

 

[qball53]

I gave my flock deer trimmings of fat with muscle/tendon attached....it was all gone the next day. I have more stored for giving them until the next deer kill, so each day they get a little deer scraps in the coop. The deer are pretty fat from all the excess acorns this year, so this is a good year for harvesting fat.

I always give them the chicken offal and, if they can run in and snatch any from the dog, any turkey or chicken carcass leavings.

We have been getting "saw trimmings" from a butcher about 2 miles from the house. He throws this away daily. It is fat, meat, bone that falls through the saw as they butcher the goats,sheep. cattle, chickens. The chickens love it though some had to figure out how good it was first.

 

[armorfirelady]

Posted this over on another thread in response to a fella's hens eating an inordinate amount of feed, in his estimation.



In the past, we never had to worry about animal protein because feed makers just routinely included it. Over the past few years, the move has been toward purely vegetable protein in chicken feed. I'm simply not a fan.

The old wives tale about birds needing corn in the winter to "warm them up" is largely a myth. Corn is a carb and produces energy. Protein is likely far more important to inner body temperature than carbs. In fact, too high a protein feed in the summer isn't indicated. Protein in the cooler/colder months is indicated. If the feed does not have adequate animal protein or no animal protein at all, it is my experience that the birds consume much more feed, seeking both the protein and the heat generating capacity required during the colder months.

I've found that when raising out chicks that a Gamebird formula, with 24% protein, largely built on animal protein (3rd ingredient in the bag tag) results in far less total feed consumed. A high animal protein feed base also allows for room in the diet for more whole or cracked grains and alfalfa meal, thus off setting the expense of the Gamebird feed. If that all seems too fussy, then feeding a layer formula of 16% protein is fine, if that protein is largely made up of animal sources.

Just my $.02. Hope it helps.

Good to know. I saw the other day that the feed store I go to has gamebird feed & I thought of getting some to add to their FF for the winter. Sounds like I will check the layer pellet tags & see if any animal protein in them and if not get some gamebird feed

 

[armorfirelady]

Thought the OT's would get a chuckle out of this. Apparently they have never seen what an ANIMAL has eaten that you eat? Dumb people !!!

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/billboard-feces-taints-buffalo-chicken