Three things have happened at once and raised a question about the results.
First, my 12, 8-week-old chickens now have 24/7 access to their hardened run instead of being shut in the coop from dusk until an hour or two after first light. This means 24/7 access to the feed and water since its in the run rather than the coop.
Second, after week of eating mixed medicated and non-medicated feed they're exclusively on the non-medicated grower instead of the medicated starter/grower. The new feed is a different brand with vegetable rather than animal protein and a finer texture.
Third, I've been giving them 3-4 large ragweeds and/or an equal-sized mass of other weeds twice a day and a pie-plate or so of unsalable vegetables/fruit per day (I work at a produce stand). They've eaten everything but overmature cucumbers and tired okra with great enthusiasm. The ragweed is the #1 favorite with wormy sweet-corn as the only competition -- if I put both in at once half will eat wormy corn, the other half will eat ragweed. The cucumbers and okra are withering into the pine-straw bedding and, presumably, drawing pillbugs, palmetto bugs, and other lovers of dying vegetation.
In the past several days I've noticed a dramatic reduction in the volume of feed consumed. The birds are just as active as they have been and are growing almost as fast as the ragweed. But where they were consuming almost all of 2 scoops of the medicated starter-grower or the mixed feed, three scoops of the straight grower lasted 2 days.
Does feed consumption normally drop off a bit at that age? Is it likely that the finer texture of that feed is making that much difference? Am I overdoing the fruits, vegetables, and weeds? Is it possible that they're getting that many bugs drawn into the run by the remnants of the okra and cucumbers?
I would presume that they'd be eating even more of their favorite ragweed if they were free-ranging since they strip what I give them down to bare stems in an hour or less.
First, my 12, 8-week-old chickens now have 24/7 access to their hardened run instead of being shut in the coop from dusk until an hour or two after first light. This means 24/7 access to the feed and water since its in the run rather than the coop.
Second, after week of eating mixed medicated and non-medicated feed they're exclusively on the non-medicated grower instead of the medicated starter/grower. The new feed is a different brand with vegetable rather than animal protein and a finer texture.
Third, I've been giving them 3-4 large ragweeds and/or an equal-sized mass of other weeds twice a day and a pie-plate or so of unsalable vegetables/fruit per day (I work at a produce stand). They've eaten everything but overmature cucumbers and tired okra with great enthusiasm. The ragweed is the #1 favorite with wormy sweet-corn as the only competition -- if I put both in at once half will eat wormy corn, the other half will eat ragweed. The cucumbers and okra are withering into the pine-straw bedding and, presumably, drawing pillbugs, palmetto bugs, and other lovers of dying vegetation.
In the past several days I've noticed a dramatic reduction in the volume of feed consumed. The birds are just as active as they have been and are growing almost as fast as the ragweed. But where they were consuming almost all of 2 scoops of the medicated starter-grower or the mixed feed, three scoops of the straight grower lasted 2 days.
Does feed consumption normally drop off a bit at that age? Is it likely that the finer texture of that feed is making that much difference? Am I overdoing the fruits, vegetables, and weeds? Is it possible that they're getting that many bugs drawn into the run by the remnants of the okra and cucumbers?
I would presume that they'd be eating even more of their favorite ragweed if they were free-ranging since they strip what I give them down to bare stems in an hour or less.
