Do my chickens NEED grass to stay healthy?

[Ridgerunner]

I have more time to respond now so I’ll give a more detailed answer.

The way I view that question, it’s not what’s best, it’s what the minimum requirements are. They are not going to get sick or die if they don’t eat grass. It’s not an absolute requirement.

My personal preference is for them to forage for everything they eat. Obviously winter may get in the way of that and most of us don’t have the quality of forage to make that reasonable. By quality forage I mean different kinds of grass and grass seeds, different weeds and weed seeds plus some “fruits” or “vegetables” from weeds, an orchard with apples, plums, peaches, whatever falling and hitting the ground, maybe mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes. Dirt and leaf mold to eat. They’ll get minerals and other nutrients from that. And of course all kinds of critters, small snakes, frogs, hopping, flying, creeping and wiggling things you might not want to think about. Maybe toss in some occasional road kill. If you are in limestone country they don’t even need a calcium supplement. They’ll get the calcium they need from the rocks they eat as grit.

Like most of the people on this board I can’t do that. For many people manicured lawns or the requirement to keep them confined gets in the way. For me the quality of forage is there but due to predation I keep them in electric netting, which limits the variety they can get to. That means I have to supplement their feed. I just do the best I can and that‘s the best I can do.

I agree it is best to give them as much variety as you can, but they are not going to get sick and die if all they have to eat is chicken feed. They can be healthy and productive on that. There is no need to make someone feel guilty if that is the best they can do.

What they eat does make a difference. But you don’t have to feed vegetation to get shiny plumage. Drizzle a little vegetable or mineral oil on their feed occasionally. As long as you do it in moderation and don’t let vegetable oil go rancid, it won’t hurt them and will shine up the plumage.

 

[centrarchid]

When my adult birds are operating entirely free-range foraging, by volume the greatest amount of ingesta is vegetative plant material. This collectively referred to as "grass" but in reality the birds are rather picky about what is consumed and likely owing to variations in nutritional quality and toxicity / palatability. They seem to prefer new grow over mature plant parts. As for type of plant, my really have a hankering for legumes (clovers mostly) but will also eat true grasses. Around here fescue is one of the more abundant plant species and it does figure heavily in their diet. I have followed the birds around for much of the day multiple times and found the birds are picky about fescue. They are constantly tasting it as they go but patches are not all equally valued. They will pass up several patches then hit another very hard. Vegetative plant materials make up the bulk but they are partial to seeds and nothing trumps insects as eats but if the birds or lawnmower hits an area much then all that is left is the vegetative greens.

 

[chooks4life]

Whether or not they need grass for health really depends on what you classify as health. For some this just means they are on their feet, for some this means they are laying eggs, for some this means they are of a vibrant appearance, for others this means no tiny point of imperfect health is tolerated. I guess we'll assume 'health' here is graded as defined by 'living a normal lifespan while producing' because I think that's what you mean. Could be wrong. Also there are differences between the levels of health accepted for breeders and non breeders, which I think are about-face, since we're eating the eggs etc from the less nutritiously fed birds. What went in is what we get out, lol.
Quote: The issue there is the possibility of them consuming long blades that might bind their crops or guts. If picking it by themselves they take short pieces. But plenty of people hand pick grass for them, mostly it's no problem.

Quote:

Quote: Yes, they will live on without greens, but for the very best health (sometimes referred to as 'excess health' by some livestock keepers) raw foods are necessary. Living greens, as Centrarchid said, are great for supplying that.

It's worth remembering there are many levels of disease which medically qualify as health because they are not quickly fatal and the animal seems well enough. This is functional but not truly complete health, but to many poultry keepers the money/time/effort needed to attain/maintain that health is too much. For these people the 'complete feed' sold for chooks will suit their requirements and their poultry will live for the usual length of time and produce the usual amount of eggs and die of the usual issues (if not culled first). It's a case of whatever works for you.

Certainly there's no point feeling guilty you can't keep them how you want, we do the best with what we have and what we know.

Malnutrition to some degree is very common and even though most feeds claim they're complete, all it means is that they pass the basic survival ration suitability testing. Chooks fed that will live out their normal expected productive lifespan (2 years or so) and then be culled, so the feed doesn't need to do more than support them for that time. However if you want to get the best eggs/meat from them, pellets and crumble alone will not do it. If your health is an important reason behind your decision to keep poultry then cutting corners is not going to help.

It comes down to why you have them, and what you expect to get from them; that will guide your feed plans.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That’s a good post. It does depend a lot on what you personally classify as healthy. To me, disease free, productive, and living a normal length of life is healthy. Others want more.

To me the healthiest chicken is not an oversized bird fed a high protein diet. I don’t want a huge hen laying a double extra huge egg and with a fat pad that makes it hard for the egg to squeeze through. I seem to be in the minority on this board about that. Body shape depend on breed of course, but I’d much rather have a thinner hen laying a normal size for her egg. Ideally, the chicken would be able to forage for a big variety of things so it gets a lot of different vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. But I don’t have an ideal situation, I have a situation I deal with. I supplement their feed with kitchen wastes and garden trimmings and waste. I think they do pretty well.

But a lot of this is personal preference once you get beyond disease free, productive, and living a normal life span. That’s what my comments are mostly about, separating personal preference from minimum requirements.

 

[chooks4life]

I agree. I'm the same with my poultry.

Like anyone else, I'd prefer an ideal circumstance, but like you and many others I don't have an ideal circumstance right now, I have a circumstance I deal with.

It all depends on what you want them for, and I want mine to improve my family's health, but I have to do it naturally, minus the usual medications, since some members of my family are sensitive to antibiotics and chemicals of many groups. I've had a crash course in learning to feed and treat them naturally out of necessity. That often makes me part of a minority on these forums. Plus I'm keen on mongrels and breeding them, which is considered loony by many purebred breeders and makes me even more of a minority. But at least I'm not using purebreds to mix with mongrels, so they don't have to worry about my sort wasting rare genes in random pairings.