Cracked corn as the only feed

[DanEP]

This spring I hatched out a few black orps and gave a friend of mine a feww chicks, as it turned out I only had 1 pullet so I got a couple back from him . I feed mine chick starter and then grower and their doing great, but my freind only feeds cracked corn and the 2 pullets I got back were at least 2 lbs lighter at 4 months old. Now at 6 1/2 months older their still growing but I don't know if they will be as big as the ones I fed from the start. They will survive on a diet of corn but imo will not do as well as a flock with better feed. I do know that I'm getting just as many eggs from myn 14 girls as he's getting from 30 so I think a good diet does help.

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
Nicely said

 

[KandiandJerry]

I think it is ok as long as they have a pretty large area to free range, however you may want to supplement them in the winter months (not as many bugs to catch so not as much protein or greens to eat) or if you started getting low egg production or any other symtoms from the chickens that they aren't getting enough nutrition....I think it's fine though as long as they seem healthy and are getting to free range...

 

[ChickenScratchin]

Quote:
Nicely said

Agreed.

I think you also have to take location/climate into consideration. Many people who live in other areas and free range will need a LOT less feed than I do. I'm in southcentral Colorado, on the cusp of the foothills/plains. But it's all high-desert. And in normal years, they would do a little better. But we're in a prolonged drought, and if I didn't supplement feed this summer, they would have starved to death. There aren't even weeds growing in my field. I only had to mow my grass/weeds ONCE this year.

Even in a normal year, they would need at least some supplementation because while they would get a decent amount of food from ranging, it would not be balanced because this region/climate does not support a wide variety of native plants and bugs. Go 50 miles up the canyon (or even 25), and it's a different story. But here, chickens won't survive on cactus, sage and the occasional pinon. The nutritional variety just isn't there, unless they have MANY acres of land to range.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
This. Here is the proof.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Chickens get a lot from free range, if you happen to live where it is safe to free range and where there is lots for the chickens to eat.

Corn is perfectly good food; it just isn't anywhere near a complete balanced diet. It can be combined with other things and make good feed for all sorts of barnyard animals.

I very firmly believe this: anyone who can't afford to buy food for their chickens has too many chickens. Nobody should have animals if they can't afford to feed them and can't afford to keep them healthy. No exceptions, no excuses.

 

[halo]

Most all chicken feed is mostly corn anyway, with added vitamins, minerals and soybean meal to up the protein. If you have a source for cheap corn (corn aint cheap around here), you could easily just add a good livestock vitamin/mineral, such as Calf Manna, soybean meal (which is about 30% protein, so you dont need much) and oyster shell, and you have a complete feed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I grew up on one of those farms. With good quality forage, the chickens can do quite well. By good forage I mean grass and weeds, grass seeds and weed seeds, flying/hopping bugs to catch and creepy crawlies they can scratch out of leaf piles or whatever. The only time we fed them anything was in the winter, and that was home grown field corn, shelled but not crushed or ground. They did have access to the hay barn, but most did not spend much time in there, even in winter. There was cow and horse manure for them to explore. We did not often have the ground frozen all day and did not have a lot of days snow covered the ground.

They did not grow as fast or lay as well as chickens fed a complete commercial mix designed to maximize efficiency. I'll argue which is more efficient though, a flock where 50% of the hens are laying and you are paying nothing for feed versus a flock where all the hens are laying practically every day but you buy most of their food. They did not grow as fast or as big as chickens fed a high protein diet, but we paid a whole lot less for the feed and one would still make a meal.

Not all of us live in conditions where they have top quality forage. I clearly notice that my broody raised chickens forage a lot better than my brooder raised chickens today. Back then, they were practically all broody raised chickens. Mine today are descendents from current hatchery stock, not some throwback genetics. I don't manage them the same way my parents did, but I really believe the ones I have today could do as well foraging if they had to after seeing my broody raised chicks. They may have a learning curve, but they could manage.

 

[shakti2u]

My aunt, a few years ago, kept her chickens in a large pen (the were not allowed to forage except in their pen). She only fed them corn. We would take the ears of corn and chop them in sections and then take them to the chickens. The corn was what was harvested on the farm and put in a type of shed that had lattice for sides. I think it was to help the corn dry out. Anyway, she got tons of eggs and they chickens seemed healthy.

My chickens are fed a little feed each day, but mostly get their food outside.

Sylvia

 

[Cockadoodledon't]

It has been quite interesting and educational reading each of the comments for this post.
I appreciate and read each post with interest.
Thanks to all that posted and offered their comment.