Feeding and watering free-range birds

[rebelcowboysnb]

My caged birds get have laying pellets as there only food.
The free range birds get all there food from the land an I treat them with corn, scratch or laying pellets(what ever is cheapest) at bed time just to make sure they know where home is. The free range birds are healthier but one or two vanish every now an then.

 

[jacyjones]

I think it is very important for laying birds to get layers pellets and calcium from the oyster shell - otherwise they are using up resources from within themselves to make the eggs and shells. I do not properly understand the science of it all but I want my girls to be as healthy as possible and do not think they can live entirely on what they are able to forage in the winter.

 

[chicknmania]

Ours free range. In spring summer and early fall we feed them once a day, cracked corn or scratch, or both, sometimes sunflower seeds too. They forage for the rest, except they get table scraps sometimes if we have any, like fruits and vegetables or whatever we have. They have two water bowls in our yard they share with the dogs and cats, and two waterers by the barn, one inside, one outside. In late fall, winter and early spring, when forage is pretty much gone, we feed them layer and scratch or cracked corn, two to three times a day, plus table scraps. They also get oyster shell.