Fall and winter feed

[Coopcheney]

Would layer feed and chicken scratch with cracked corn suffice for a good nutritional diet for my ladies this season? It’s my first flock ever And I want to make sure they are well fed.

 

[SueT]

I feed the same feed year round. Make sure their regular feed makes up 90% of their diet, and the scratch and corn, which are treats, are no more than 10%.

 

[Coopcheney]

I feed the same feed year round. Make sure their regular feed makes up 90% of their diet, and the scratch and corn, which are treats, are no more than 10%.

Thank you!!

 

[igorsMistress]

I also provide the same feed year round. Treats should amount to no more than roughly a tablespoon per bird per day.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I also feed the same year round but primarily use all flock/flock raiser so am not concerned about excess calcium.

 

[Apis mellifera]

I add a small amount of meat protein weekly mostly after the first hard frost.

 

[Penpal]

I don't feed cracked corn because it is corn with the germ, which is where the protein is, removed.

They get sunflower seeds which is high in fat and suitable in the winter.

 

[nuthatched]

Their normal feed is fine, with a little scratch once or twice a week is fine.
No corn or sunflower seeds necessary.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Would layer feed and chicken scratch with cracked corn suffice for a good nutritional diet for my ladies this season? It’s my first flock ever And I want to make sure they are well fed.

Layer feed is already only minimally sufficient. I don't advocate for reducing the diet further by adding fat and carbs. Best thing you can do for your birds in winter is provide them a draft free, well ventilated structure in which to sleep and avoid incliment weather with adequate space for roosting. FAR more important than offering extra fat.

Perhaps counterintuitively, some recommend increasing protein in winter. Why? Because converting protein into energy is inefficient. Carbs become simple sugars (energy) FAR easier than protein. Fat becomes simple sugars (energy) easier than protein. SO why feed them something inefficient? Because inefficiency in physical processes is entropy, and entropy is expressed as waste heat. Only in this case, its not wasted - since it goes to warm our parka-wearing dinosaurs. Excess protein, btw, is excreted, not stored.

Remember, chickens don't store fat like we do. They deposit very little intramuscular. They deposit very little subcutaneously, and what they do place just under the skin is concentrated in just a couple locations. Chickens deposit fat primarily inside their organ cavity, where it contributes to incidence of FLHS and can cause sudden death, it deposits around the heart where it can restrict blood flow, increasing frost bite at the extremities (or causing sudden death), and it otherwise does almost nothing to "insulate" the bird.

Personally, I feed 20% protein year round - many here on BYC do - its the sweet spot of price without resulting in either a deficit of available protein for most birds or an excess (and waste) of proteins for most birds. Free choice of fresh clean water, grit, and calcium (I use oyster shell, mostly) in seperate dishes, of course.