vpatt, looks good and reasonable to me; I have the same questions, though, and am an expert NOT. I do have a chewed up copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow, though, and she recommends using Pearson's Square for figuring rations the simple way. You can read how to do this at ext.colostate.edu. by looking up Pearson's Square on the Net. I am not nearly so principled in what I feed my chickens, but I did want to help them through a molt (and to get them laying again!) I give them milk and milk products when I have extra, spoiled or left over, and I often soak scratch in the milk to compensate for the low protein content of the scratch. the chickens love it and it doesn't seem to be harming them - and that is all I can say to recommend a milk supplement. My birds eat ALL of the scratch in the milk. Oh, and milk's a good calcium source. I have been thinking of mixing in some high quality cat food if I can find a cheap source. What's the opinion on this? My problem is is that my chickens get a fair amount of leftover food from a school lunch program (it's good organic, high protein food), and they love it; I worry that they will not eat the layer pellets I set out for them FF, but even so, the pellets disappear quickly enough. My chickens act like I haven't fed them in months; should I be checking for worms? Can I add DE to their water to help with any possible internal parasites?
Last week I found one of my Silkie roosters dead in its pen of 6, completely divested of his head and neck, no sign of forced entry or struggle or blood or anything. The pen was attached to the house, adjoining my bedroom wall, and it was not covered. Six birds were available to this predator, but only the one head was taken - Fluffy's. I believe he fell to an owl. Any thoughts? RIP Fluffy.
