Cracked Corn + what? Feeding laying hens...

woodenspoon

Hatching
10 Years
Nov 13, 2009
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0
7
I have basically an unlimited supply of free cracked corn delivered to me. What should I add to this to feed my chickens? I have 7 roosters and 11 hens, a mixed batch of breeds and most of them are about 6 months old (1 might be a little bit younger).
 
Right now my layers are eating 2/3 16% crumbles and 1/3 Cracked Corn. They seem to really like it, and it is less expensive then feeding straight crumbles too.

Boy, I cant imagine what I would do if I had an umlimited supply of chicken food.....
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I believe that corn will help fatten up chickens, which helps conserve body heat during winter. Are you located in a cold or warm climate?
 
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7 roosters and 11 hens?! They aren't trying to kill eachother? I only keep 2 roosters and I have 50 hens.
They are still only 6 months old so they are young but I would keep a serious eye on them, roosters will fight to the death over their hens.
Now for the cracked corn, remember its only a treat, like candy for chickens.
If you give them too much they will not eat as much of their regular food and they will have nutritional problems.
I throw out a little here and there, probably not more than one or two cups per day for my flock.
I prefer to give them black oil sunflower seeds as most of their treat and throw in a little corn.
 
we live in a cold climate... Northern IL... and the free corn is compliments of my dad who works for a farmer.... he brought over 2 - 50 pound bags of cracked corn today and said he has a whole wagon of it...

My roosters have just started to fight some. We have given one away and are trying to determine which couple to keep... we've kinda gotten attached to them...
 
Cracked corn isn't bad for them, nor is it just a treat. Most layer rations are half corn along with added protein, vitamins and minerals.

If you want a complete ration that includes the necessary protein, vitamins, and minerals for your flock, the easiest way would be to buy a layer concentrate from the feed mill and mix it with your free corn. Layer concentrate is high protein feedstock along with a premix of the necessary vitamins and minerals that can be used to make a layer ration from your own farm raised grains.

Otherwise you would have to come up with a high protein feedstock such as soybeans, fish meal, animal meal, etc and the appropriate minerals and mix them in the correct amounts to make a decent ration.
 
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The protein is the expensive part. Basically you are creating a lower protein ration by diluting it with corn. That's not such a bad idea for cold weather. The birds need a lot more calories to keep warm in cold weather so they eat more, but they don't necessarily need the extra protein that they get from eating the extra feed. The corn gives them the extra calories to burn without consuming unnecessary extra protein. If you overdo it though and cut the protein too much, they will start to drop in weight and egg production will suffer.
 

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