...My birds get fed once a day, at about noon. I was actually worried they may be getting underfed (considering that I have two large turkeys who consistently like hogging the food bowl). I am also wondering if my feeding habits have contributed to a case of sour crop in one of my turkeys has (still wondering how to treat that properly). I let my hens out for an hour or so a few days every week; not very much but hopefully enough for exercise.
... I would feed freely but they eat in a way that makes me think they'll never stop...
YOUR BIRDS ARE NOT GETTING ENOUGH FOOD. They need free access to good quality feed a
ll day long... it's not going to make them fat! If you have hens, roosters and turkeys all together, you should be feeding an All Flock feed... but you MUST provide oyster shell for the hens so they will have enough calcium to produce eggs. (The all flock feed alone does not have enough calcium to support a laying hen).
Do oyster shells increase egg laying rate or simply make the shells stronger? I feed them egg shells once in a while (their own and store bought).
Oyster shells do not increase productivity... they improve quality. If hens are not eating free access layer feed, then oyster shell is a necessity. Eggshells are fine to give, but their bodies don't process them the same as oyster shell... not nearly as effective.
Recently I was at a fair and saw chickens that were so fat they couldn't walk.
Those particular chickens were probably meat birds. They are bred to grow extremely fast and large so they can be butchered at a very young age. It's common for some to become so heavy they can't walk, and they have very short lifespans.
Other chickens that become fat (that aren't supposed to be) usually get that way by eating "treats". That includes anything that is not regular feed or what chickens can scratch up themselves... like bugs, grasses etc.
Treats make chickens fat. Scratch grains, bread, pasta, any people leftovers, sunflower seeds, fruits and vegetables... pretty much any of that CAN be overfed. That's why TREATS need to be limited to only 10% of their total diet. Free ranging doesn't count.
Here's a picture of my set-up. I made a 3' PVC feeder that I fill with layer feed (though recently I switched to All Flock because I added some chicks that weren't old enough for layer feed yet --who of course began with chick starter feed). I only fill that feeder every few days. The chickens just eat whenever they feel like it.
There's also two containers with oyster shell and grit always available. When I feed all flock, I refill the oyster shell more often, when I feed layer, not quite as much. Because layer feed has more calcium already in it.
Yours may eat crazy like they're starving because maybe they are. Please leave their food out all day. It's much much healthier. ONLY meat birds (ie. Cornish Cross) should have limited access to food if they're kept beyond their "process" date. You may also notice your birds will no longer have crop issues once they are allowed to eat normally. Their crop should be full at night, and empty by morning. My chickens will occasionally nibble food right up until bedtime.
Someone here (I wish I could remember who!) posted a video of how the digestive tract works. Basically, chickens need a full crop at night because -empty or full- their system is working, especially the gizzard. If there's no food in their system, their gizzard still works to crush food and then other health problems can arise. *edit to add* It can also be painful during the night to not have a full belly, causing them to stay awake, and be cranky the next day, possibly leading to behavior problems and aggression.
. I see so many posts where people are against electric in the coop. Like anything else in life, increased understanding of something will take away a lot of the fear.
