Daily scratch

[BellaBelinski]

So, I give my chicks (~3 months old) some high quality scratch with some BOSS every morning when I let them out of their coop to keep them busy until I can get out there to let them out for a while. I sprinkle about 2 cups in their pen. I also give them plenty of greens(i.e. different kinds of lettuce, spinach, cabbage in suet baskets, sprouted grains, etc.) because they only get to forage 1-2 hours a day. I understand that scratch is not balanced nutritionally, so I make sure they have plenty of their starter crumbles available.

I guess I'm a little concerned about weight gain and over heating on hot days. I live in northwest Oregon, so we only get a few really hot days. I read about corn being a "hot" food due to the high empty caloric value. However, when I've mentioned it to employees at the feed store and other people who are well seasoned in raising chickens they've all had the same quizzical look on their face. In other words, they've never heard of that.

If this is too much, then what can I do to keep them busy while they are in their pen?

 

[HEChicken]

Some people have had a lot of entertainment value from hanging a head of cabbage at about the chickens' shoulder height and letting them peck at it. It can keep them busy for awhile.

 

[Chris09]

So, I give my chicks (~3 months old) some high quality scratch with some BOSS every morning when I let them out of their coop to keep them busy until I can get out there to let them out for a while. I sprinkle about 2 cups in their pen. I also give them plenty of greens(i.e. different kinds of lettuce, spinach, cabbage in suet baskets, sprouted grains, etc.) because they only get to forage 1-2 hours a day. I understand that scratch is not balanced nutritionally, so I make sure they have plenty of their starter crumbles available.

I guess I'm a little concerned about weight gain and over heating on hot days. I live in northwest Oregon, so we only get a few really hot days. I read about corn being a "hot" food due to the high empty caloric value. However, when I've mentioned it to employees at the feed store and other people who are well seasoned in raising chickens they've all had the same quizzical look on their face. In other words, they've never heard of that.

If this is too much, then what can I do to keep them busy while they are in their pen?

Corn is a "Hot" feed because of the over all caloric value and not because they empty or not also corn wont make them hot.

Chris

 

[BellaBelinski]

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that I give plenty of greens, including cabbage in suet baskets. My family thinks it's pretty funny because I fix them heaping plates of many different kinds of greens that I put in their pen when they are unable to forage for more than an hour on some days.

They're really spoiled when it comes to greens. I was just a little worried about given them scratch every morning, but thank you for your response!

 

[BellaBelinski]

Actually going back and reading my original post I did mention the greens. Sorry, I guess I was having a menopause moment!

 

[BellaBelinski]

Hi Chris,
Yes, I do know about the weight gain which is said to make them hot. I just said empty calories because their is not much nutrition in corn. My scratch is ~25% corn with the rest being other grains. However, thanks so much for your response!

 

[Chris09]

Your Welcome and here is a comparison on corn and other common feed grain.

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
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Table 2. Mineral content of major feed grains (NRC, 1996).
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Corn Barley Wheat Oats Sorghum
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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 -
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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
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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
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