Cracked corn

[PrecioustoHim]

Okay here is what I know about cr corn and horses. Feeding cr corn to horses in the winter months produces more calories, hence more warmth. So why wouldn't it have the same effect in chickens. I have been feeding horses for over 40 years, and have increased the amount of feed during the cold snaps to increase warmth in this manner. I live 8 miles south of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and it gets really cold here for weeks at a time.

 

[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

 

[BriBrookMommy00]

Maybe someone with more chicken experience can help me out! We feed "scratch feed" it has cracked corn in it. What is your take on it?

 

[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.

 

[Chris09]

Maybe someone with more chicken experience can help me out! We feed "scratch feed" it has cracked corn in it. What is your take on it?

Scratch feed/ scratch grain is not a complete feed and they need to be on a regular poultry feed.
A chicken feed or better a game bird feed is what they need to be on.

 

[Chris09]

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.

Really there's no single feed ingredient that can be fed by it's self and have a positive outcome.

Corn either whole, cracked, or ground is a very good feed ingredient and brings a lot to the plate, that's why corn is one of the most used ingredient in a feed mix.

Here is just a short listing comparing corn to other cereal grains, here you can see that corn may be lower in crude protein but is very close to the nutritional value of other grains of the same type, in fact corn exceeds in Total Digestible Nutrients, Net Energy of Maintenance and Net Energy of Gain which is a plus when it comes to poultry nutrition.

​

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).​

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Corn Barley Wheat Oats Sorghum
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[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.

 

[blucoondawg]

Yes and you are making things overly technical in your explanation of corns values. When I say it isn't a good feed I am saying as a main feed source as in that's the only thing you dump in the feeder. And for the record I did not and would not ever feed only corn to chickens. As I stated before I acquired these stunted hens on a trade and am trying to get them growing.
The point is a premixed chicken feed like layer or meat maker or starter is much better for your birds than a straight corn diet.I don't believe a scratch diet alone is the best either though it is better than straight corn.
I think we both agree but are saying it in different ways. I know most every feed available contains a lot of corn but posting charts about how wonderful corn is as a feed can mislead otherwise I'll informed folks into doing what my friend did and using only corn and having damaging effects on the birds.I just hope he took my advice and got a better feed our he will have disappointing results with his flock

 

[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.