Does corn have enough nutrients in it?

[bantiesrule]

I feed my oeg bantams layer feed and cracked corn. I also give them treats of wild bird seed, lettuce, oatmeal, and whatever else I have that I think they would like. This winter, they tend to dig through the feed and mostly eat just the corn. Does corn have enough nutrients in it? Should I take the corn away so they have to eat the layer crumbles? Corn is supposed to be good for generating heat, so I really don't want to quit giving it to them. (I live in Minnesota and they need all the heat they can get).
Any suggestions or am I worrying over nothing?

 

[muddler6]

What I do is put ONLY feed in the feeders, otherwise they will dig through and pick out the good stuff, if you want to give them treats like corn scratch grains, etc throw it in the run and let them work for it, I have a big saucer that I put other stuff like lettuce, and food scraps in to keep it somewhat contained, but once they start fighting over it it goes everywhere. ANyhow to get back to your question, they need to eat the balance of what is in the feed, protein, calcium, etc. etc.

 

[BeckyLa]

In the winter, I will give corn as a treat if it's really cold. Some in the afternoon when I gather eggs to warm them up during the night. And, if it's really cold in the morning, they'll get some then, too. In the summer, I only feed scratch, no corn added, when I gather eggs or need to call in the free rangers. This way most of what the penned birds eat will be their feed, which has the balanced nutrition they need. I only give other stuff, greens, leftovers, whatever, occasionally as a treat.

 

[MandyH]

Corn does not have any nutritional value in it to speak of. It is used in feeds as mianly a filler. Yes the birds do love it, and layer pellets have a LOT of corn in them already. Check the bag tag next time you buy feed. We give ours a couple of handfuls everyday in the winter to give them a treat.

 

[muddstopper]

Nutrition Facts and Information about Corn: Corn is rich in phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, iron and selenium. It also has small amounts of potassium.

Vitamin Content: Corn has Vitamin B (Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Niacin, Riboflavin, Folate). It has traces of Vitamin A and Vitamin E.

Calorie Content of Corn: Cereals are the prime source of calories for many people. The calorific value of most cereals lies between 330 to 350 calories per 100 gm, the calorific value of corn being 342 calories per 100 gm.

Corn is not just a filler in feed products.

 

[rosegal]

There are whole populations of the world that live on foods we consider fillers....like white rice and corn. However, they do remarkably well when they are given a steady diet of these two foods. Now, I know people are different than animals but there is more nutrition in these two major food sources than is given credit.
That said, I don't feed my dogs corn or rice, because they seem to react worse with their allergies and are fed only a predator based diet.
When I lived in Yemen, those chickens as well as most humans lived on rice and corn. They were very happy and healthy (animal and people population). While I have only had this group of chickens several months, I can already see that they could easily just live on the cracked corn. If you can only afford to feed the corn, I still think you are better off than store bought eggs.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
WHERE IN THE WORLD DO LIES LIKE THIS GET MADE UP?!?!?!?!?!!?

Corn is most definitely NOT, NOT, NOT a 'filler'!!! It is a highly digestible source of Energy and is used as such in livestock rations.

Jim

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Holy smokes, 12 billion bushels harvested in the U.S. last year and it's all worthless.

 

[MandyH]

I guess I should have stated that it a major carbohydrate and does not contain much protein (depending on how its processed). I hope that helps clear things up for the people that don't seem to have any helpful input for the OP.

 

[MandyH]

If this helps any, this came out of the Merck Veterinary Manual :

"Corn (maize) is by far the most widely used grain for feeding in the USA. It is very palatable and high in energy, but is relatively low in crude protein. In addition, corn is deficient in lysine, tryptophan, threonine, and several other essential amino acids, as well as vitamins and minerals."