Cracked corn

[chickengirl12]

Does feeding cracked corn help chickens in any way. I have heard that it has no nutritional value and all it does is stretch the feed?

 

[Chris09]

Corn is a very desirable grain, for some reason a bunch of people (mostly on this site) believe that corn has no nutritional value which is very incorrect.​

TDN = Total Digestible Nutrients
NEm = Net Energy of Maintenance
NEg = Net Energy of Gain
CP = Crude Protein
NDF = Neutral Detergent Fiber
ADF = Acid Detergent Fiber

Table 1. Nutrient content of various feed grains (NRC, 1996).​

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Corn Barley Wheat Oats Sorghum
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TDN, % 90 88 88 77 82
NEm, Mcal/lb 1.02 0.94 0.99 0.84 0.91
NEg, Mcal/lb 0.70 0.64 0.68 0.55 0.61
CP, % 9.8 13.2 14.2 13.6 12.6
Escape Protein, % of CP 55 27 23 17 57
NDF, % 10.8 18.1 11.8 29.3 16.1
ADF, % 3.3 5.8 4.2 14.0 6.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------



Table 2. Mineral content of major feed grains (NRC, 1996).
----------------------------------------------------------
Corn Barley Wheat Oats Sorghum
----------------------------------------------------------
Calcium, % 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.01 0.04
Phosphorus, % 0.32 0.35 0.44 0.41 0.34
Potassium, % 0.44 0.57 0.40 0.51 0.44
Magnesium, % 0.12 0.12 0.13 0.16 0.17
Sodium, % 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.01
Sulfur, % 0.11 0.15 0.14 0.21 0.14
Copper, ppm 2.5 5.3 6.5 8.6 4.7
Iron, ppm 54.5 59.5 45.1 94.1 80.8
Manganese, ppm 7.9 18.3 36.6 40.3 15.4
Selenium, ppm 0.14 - 0.05 0.24 0.46
Zinc, ppm 24.2 13.0 38.1 40.8 0.99
Cobalt, ppm - 0.35 - 0.06 -
Molybdenum, ppm 0.60 1.16 0.12 1.70 -
----------------------------------------------------------



Table 3. Nutrient content of corn using different harvest, storage,
or processing methods.
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Escape
Dry TDN, NEm, NEg, Protein,
Corn Type Matter % Mcal/lb Mcal/lb CP, % % of CP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dry Rolled Corn 86 90 1.02 0.70 9.8 60
Ear Corn 87 83 0.92 0.62 9.0 60
Steam Flaked Corn 82 94 1.06 0.73 10.0 45
High Moisture Corn 75 90 1.02 0.70 10.0 40
High Moisture Ear Corn 75 83 0.92 0.62 8.7 40
High Moisture Snapped Corn 74 81 0.90 0.59 8.8 40
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[baldessariclan]

We sometimes use cracked corn as a source of extra energy for the birds during coldest months. We don't give them much, though -- maybe a cup or two per day for 3-5 birds, scattered on the ground. And of course they have unlimted access to their regular feed as well.

 

[dadthebaker]

I have read in some husbandry book, BC (before chickens) that cracked corn is like candy to chickens and should be fed to them in the same manner as one would feed candy to a child... I load them up on it... lol.,.,. just kidding.,,

thanks for the info.

 

[Boondockma]

All I know is our 9 hens are a year old now and we had yet to get an egg out of them (our previous hens were great layers) a friend suggested adding cracked corn to their diet. We did and about a week later are now happily enjoying the harvest

 

[blucoondawg]

Here is my 2 cents, I hatched 2 batches of chicks this spring, one for myself and another for a friend, my chickens are about a month older, and were fed a diet of chick starter feed when little then moved to the coop and fed what the big ones got, layer feed and also free ranged on whatever they could get, and thrown a scoop or 2 of scratch on the ground every day or 2. My chicks are very large and filled out the roosters got huge and started crowing the hens are very well formed and larger than any of my original hens from the hatchery. Well I decided it was time to get rid of some roosters and my buddy who took the other batch of chicks I hatched ended up with only 1 rooster out of 20 some chicks and he wanted chickens to butcher, so I told him don't kill the hens I will trade you some of my roosters for some of your hens. He brought over 8 of his hens and I couldn't believe what they looked like. They are the size of chicks just after they feather out and start flying around the brooder however they were born in late April or early May. He couldn't believe the size of my birds and I asked what he was feeding them and he said cracked corn as he couldn't get them to touch scratch and they free ranged, I told him he needed to switch to a decent chicken feed immediately or his chickens won't amount to much if they even live. I stuck to the trade, took his 8 little hens for my 8 grown roosters. I have them in a brooder and have switched them to a commercial feed in hope that I can somewhat curb their stunted growth but I may just end up with miniature hens.

I say cracked corn is not a good feed, it is a supplement at best or a "treat". Sure it will add a little nutritional value which may help in the winter but if you are going to feed it as a main feed you will have problems.

 

[blucoondawg]

That is why I said cracked corn is not a good feed. Feeding it to chickens as a main feed produces disastrous results. I don't need to look at charts of numbers to see that. My 8 stunted hens who grew up on cracked corn tell the story quite well

 

[Chris09]

That is why I said cracked corn is not a good feed. Feeding it to chickens as a main feed produces disastrous results. I don't need to look at charts of numbers to see that. My 8 stunted hens who grew up on cracked corn tell the story quite well

Your missing the point.
If you would have fed just oats or any other grain by itself you would have had the same results as feeding just corn.

It's like I said in my last post, "there's no single feed ingredient that can be fed by it's self and have a positive outcome".

When you wright something like, "cracked corn is not a good feed, it is a supplement at best or a "treat" you make it sound like corn is a junk grain and should not be used or if used, used in limited supply when in fact corn is a very good feedstuff/ ingredient when used correctly.

 

[CrazyTalk]

No, hes not making it "too technical". He keeps going deeper because you keep repeating things like "Corn is a treat," which has negative connotations, and gives people the idea that they shouldn't be feeding corn at all. Seriously, pause a moment, read through the thread, and notice that there are people that think, because of what you posted, that they should be using corn-free food.


Nobody is saying you should be feeding nothing but corn. No one. Slow down, and read. Everyone is suggesting complete diets, but you keep confusing people because you're not actually reading what you're commenting on.

 

[Chris09]

Thanks CrazyTalk,
I didn't think I was getting technical either.

I know that there are lots of newbe's and non-tech chicken owners on here so I try to keep it simple.