Favorite Food Brand?

[Brooks_]

most favorable combination of protein percentage, freshness, and cost.

The trifecta.

It's important to know you won't always get your preferred and to know what else you will buy.

 

[-Laura]

OK, will take this in reverse order. (sort of)

I feed once daily, in the evenings, to get my birds to come back to the run, offer me an observation period, head count, etc so I can get a sense of the health of the flock, how effectively they are foraging, looks for obvious signs of injury and disease, etc. My birds free range 1.75A of pasture, and an additional roughly 2.75A of underbrushed woodland at least 12 hours daily, which saves me between 15-35% on feed, seasonally dependent.

Many people offer pelletized food, because its shown to reduce waste. Up to several percent. Doesn't matter much when you only have a half dozen birds. Adds up quick when you are buying 500# of feed at a time. By serving the day's feed ration wet (oatmeal-like mash), it clumps and stays together better. So when birds spill it out of the plastic gutters they are more likey to find it again and gobble it up, rather than mixing it into the soil. Damp feed can also be used for climate management- less incidence of impacted crop in hot weather when the feed is already wet and somewhat expanded, while mixing it with hot (or cold) water can help offset extremes of air temp.

Some people fully ferment their feed (frees up some additional vitamins, makes the feed easier to digest, saves of feed quantity) but I don't find the savings to be enough to make it worth my time consistently, though I do ferment from time to time, more often in winter.

My flock is in the sig below, multiple species, broad range of ages, mix of hens and (mostly juvenile) Roos. I hatch a dozen eggs every three weeks with a so/so hatch rate. 50% on average, are cockerels, destined for my table. That means at least one a week. I also cull out aging hens for stock/stew/sausage when their laying drops in the second year. and remove breeding roosters, again for the table, before they've had more than a year at the girls, to keep the genetics fresh. I'm working, slowly, towards a dual purpose, predator aware, free ranging bird well suited for my climate and geography. Its my culling project.

Adult hens produce eggs which I sell either as shell eggs or hatching (I'm licensed for both). I also take eggs for my own use, either at table, or in the incubator.

I have found that, in my situation, with the feeds available to me, I get the most bang for my buck by feeding my hatchlings 24% protein feed intended for game birds to encourage early weight gain, particularly in the males who are mostly destined for table, and to help sort the best performers (speed of maturity, body size and shape, pattern and plumage) from the others, which aids culling. The birds get that till around 8 weeks +/- when they become fully integrated with the adult flock (until that time, I can ensure separate feeding stations, as they have their own pen and run). That's a standard calcium mix, high niacin (relatively), and its also suited for raising my pekin ducks (from time to time, I have both in the grow out pen - "older" chicken hatchlings and 2-3 week old ducklings - at a protein percentage that helps them put on meat, while minimizing risk of inducing "angel wing". Unfortunately, 24% feed is about 30% more expensive than more typical feeds, and it offers no significant benefit to chickens or ducks once they have most of their early growth done.

The adult flock gets a feed I mix to either 18 or 20%, by combining one (or two) bags of much cheaper local mill layer feed with one bag of the 24% game bird feed. This results in a mix around 2.5% protein - high enough to have the potential to damage the internals (over time) of my males, and any hens who are slow, or infrequent, to lay. However, as noted above, the males are going to be culled soon - most in the next 8-10 weeks. The hens who don't lay soon, or frequently, get culled as well - though at ages closer to 8 months. That's before the extra calcium is likely to have more than rare and incidental negative impacts on the flock. There is no visible difference (and I don't keep good enough notes) in the performance of the birds on 18% or 20% protein feed (though of course there is cost savings for me of 11.5c/lb vs 12.5c/lb, or about $50/year). The science tells me, however, that my egg quality and frequency improve at thehigher protein, my males should weigh a bit more at culling, adult hens will molt faster, and of course the calcium in the 20% mix is lower (2.25% average vs 2.66% average) which plays the odds a bit in favor of fewer potential organ problems in the males (stduies suggest chances areabout 1 in 7 for clinical presentations of problems in hatchlings and males at 3.5%+ over the first 12-16 weeks of life), and much lower for presentations the typical owner might observe without getting their hands into the birds weekly.

As I'm culling constantly for table, I get my hands inside a bird or three every week, and can take a close survey of what I find, use that to adjust feeding if I find problems.

That's what works best for me.

However, my biggest egg buyer (several flats a week) wants me to feed non-GMO and is willing to pay for the privilege. I have a reasonably priced ($0.148/lb) 18% protein non-GMO feed available to me, which the whole flock now gets, hatching to cull. There has been a visibly obvious decrease in performance, across the board. However, there are a number of complicating factors, such that I can't claim the food is solely responsible for that.

Helpful?

Oh, and just so it doesn't get missed in the wall of text above, I do offer free choice oyster shell to the adult flock (basically everyone over 8 weeks) by pouring it into a 4' section of plastic gutter and letting them take it as they desire. Refill periodically. The Roos will peck at it - they explore the world with their beaks after all - but quickly ignore it. No danger of calcium toxicity when offered up this way.

Super interesting, Stormcrow. I never realized there was so much to learn about chickens! And so much involved in raising large flocks.
(I got the Purina so thanks for the suggestions)
I do have one more question: Letting them free range majority of the day, how many chickens do you loose to predators on average?

 

[3KillerBs]

The trifecta.

It's important to know you won't always get your preferred and to know what else you will buy.

I also have no pellet-vs-crumble preference. Once they're old enough to handle pellets, they eat whatever is in the feeder.

 

[Brooks_]

I also have no pellet-vs-crumble preference. Once they're old enough to handle pellets, they eat whatever is in the feeder.

I can see that. I prefer crumble in the feeder and pellets as a form of treat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Super interesting, Stormcrow. I never realized there was so much to learn about chickens! And so much involved in raising large flocks.
(I got the Purina so thanks for the suggestions)
I do have one more question: Letting them free range majority of the day, how many chickens do you loose to predators on average?

That answer varies with locale and defenses. It tends to occur in bursts, too - you may go a long time with no losses, then suddenly lose a large number to a single predator.

Over the last 18 months, I lost three to known or suspected predation (CornishX, too stupid to move away from from the run fencing, something grabbed it (but couldn't eat it - most of the CX remained inside), a hatchling in quarantine which escaped (I found the feathers later, about 200 ft distant), and another bird when a storm blew a tree onto my electric fence - again, found the feathers. I've had two small birds crushed by goats, one hatchling chick crushed by a hatchling duck, and I lost an injured duck (bad leg problems, among other issues) either to predation, or predators (vultures) discovered it shortly after it died.

Though we have two wild packs of some canine in the area, I've had no mass kill events. Thankfully.

 

[3KillerBs]

I can see that. I prefer crumble in the feeder and pellets as a form of treat.

I have one feeder that handles crumble better because pellets are a little too big to slide through easily and one feeder that handles pellets better because crumble sticks just a *little* on the more vertical sides. So one empties faster than the other depending on what I have in it.

 

[Brooks_]

I have one feeder that handles crumble better because pellets are a little too big to slide through easily and one feeder that handles pellets better because crumble sticks just a *little* on the more vertical sides. So one empties faster than the other depending on what I have in it.

It would be important to know your feeder too.

 

[cherrynberry]

Super interesting, Stormcrow. I never realized there was so much to learn about chickens! And so much involved in raising large flocks.
(I got the Purina so thanks for the suggestions)
I do have one more question: Letting them free range majority of the day, how many chickens do you loose to predators on average?

I free range all day and lock them in at night. Lost one hen and 1 chick to predators this past year and a half.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm learning by doing (not for lack of efforts to educate myself on places like BYC and the literature "for Dummies" "Stoney's Guide" etc). But like most of the species, I learn best from my mistakes.

Happy to share in hopes others might not need to repeat them in their own educational efforts.

 

[-Laura]

I free range all day and lock them in at night. Lost one hen and 1 chick to predators this past year and a half.

We live in the country with open fields and woods also, probably lots of predators and I’ve been too scared to let them out of their secure run. Think I should still wait til they’re a little older? (10 weeks, 6 pullets, no Roo)