Feeding my chickens

[ellend]

I’m a first time chicken mom. My chickens are about 3 1/2 months old. They are growing and doing well. I’ve watched a lot of videos about feeding them scraps and greens, phasing out commercial feed. Every day they get salad greens that I get from the food bank. I also feed them kitchen scraps. I cooked up some turkey bones, separated the meat and cooked with rice. Is that wrong? They don’t eat as much chicken feed when they have the extra. I want them to be healthy. Thank you.

Rice is non-nutritious, especially white rice. So are many salad greens, an exception being romaine lettuce. I would avoid feeding any rice, unless it's at least brown rice, which does have some nutrition, and avoid most of the salad greens except romaine, kale, chard, dandelion, parsley or spinach. Chicken feed purchased in 40# bags is very economical, and gives them what they need. 10% treats (scraps) is fine, and if they can free-range they'll also get grubs and beetles, which are high in protein. Oatmeal is commonly cited as good for chickens, but chickens can't utilize the protein in it, so it should be a treat only. Beets, tomatoes, marigold and nasturtium flowers, apples, pears, cherries, strawberries--all good, if no mold. Yoghurt, cottage cheese, and leftover milk are okay. My girls love cooked (fresh, not spoiled) fish. Especially if they are doing the taxing work of laying eggs, I'd stick to a base of commercial food and free-feed oyster shell. Without the commercial food, make certain to provide oyster shell for calcium, and they also need grit for their gizzard if they're getting anything other than commercial feed. (If they free-range, they can pick up grit.) They can stay alive and even produce eggs on a scrap diet, but they won't be terribly healthy.

 

[ellend]

You could also give them dried mealworms as a treat to add more protein. Personally, I feed mine a commercial feed with treats of scratch, worms, and veggies

Dried mealworms are expensive. However, many people raise them; it takes little effort or expense, and they are little protein pellets that move enticingly!

 

[ChickenCurt]

I’m a first time chicken mom. My chickens are about 3 1/2 months old. They are growing and doing well. I’ve watched a lot of videos about feeding them scraps and greens, phasing out commercial feed. Every day they get salad greens that I get from the food bank. I also feed them kitchen scraps. I cooked up some turkey bones, separated the meat and cooked with rice. Is that wrong? They don’t eat as much chicken feed when they have the extra. I want them to be healthy. Thank you.

You can feed them anything from the kitchen but if you like spicy food they probably won't have anything to do with it as chickens do not like spicy hot if you want to cut down on your grain feed you can ferment it. Easy to do: put about one third to one half of the feed you normally give them in a plastic bucket and fill it with water till it is at the top of the feed and then put the lid on it and serve it three days later. A mature flock won't like it right away but a young flock that knows no better will take to it immediately. Give your mature chickens a time to get used to it. After the first week or so you can start playing with the amounts you prepare so as to cut down waste or to ensure that they are getting enough. Fermenting is great not only does it save you feed but it is partially digested and the chickens are able to absorb 100% of the nutrients instead of less than 50% and you will also see less manure eating. If you ferment longer than three days it will start to turn to grain alcohol and if you ferment for less than three days you won't see the savings as much. Bon appétit
PS It cut my feed bill to 25%

 

[greenlydia]

We feed a good, balanced commercial pellet food that is always available to them. We have also put up a couple of "cabbage piñata's" the chickens really, really like. (We use cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) Our chickens also free range whenever we are outside to guard against coyotes, of which we have an abundance. We also fire a few rounds from the rifle into an old stump before we let them out to scare the coyotes off. We give them some extra oyster shells, even though the commercial mix already contains some. We toss out scratch every day and they get plenty of table scraps. For a real treat in the summer, we buy a huge watermelon, cut it in half and they LOVE it. (We buy the kind with seeds for them) When they are free ranging, the first place they head for are the bird feeders and they do an excellent job of pecking up every single tiny seed.....which we appreciate as it can attract rats if left too long. We did have a nasty infestation of rats several years ago so now if we give them "extra's" while in their yard, we only give them enough to eat then and there. Leaving stuff on the ground will, I promise, eventually bring you rats. We have metal garbage cans that every night we put their feeder in and put the lid on tight. We do this will the scratch as well. If there is no food for rats, they will leave, but it's easier to prevent an infestation than it is to get rid of one. It took us over 2 years before we finally got rid of the rats (they had no food, so began eating eggs....the best reason to collect eggs EVERY DAY!!!!) I don't consider my flock as a garbage disposal, but more as echo-friendly composters. My rule of thumb is if I wouldn't use it as fertilizer in my garden (which is where their copious poop goes) then I don't feed it to them. They are all fat and sassy and put their bibs on when they see me coming!

 

[ladyearth]

My chicken run is only 12’ x 12’. If I gave them nothing but commercial feed and water they would have nothing else to eat. The run is just dirt. That’s why I was giving them greens and fruit. This is all so confusing to me.

well let them out once in a while supervised right before roost time. remember we are what we eat.
chickens prob wouldn't pick and eat Soybeans or that dry crap we give them on their own. they are confined which I consider chicken abuse or animal abuse...most of their poor lives just my opinion as someone who loves them baby girls
Blessings

 

[ladyearth]

We feed a good, balanced commercial pellet food that is always available to them. We have also put up a couple of "cabbage piñata's" the chickens really, really like. (We use cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) Our chickens also free range whenever we are outside to guard against coyotes, of which we have an abundance. We also fire a few rounds from the rifle into an old stump before we let them out to scare the coyotes off. We give them some extra oyster shells, even though the commercial mix already contains some. We toss out scratch every day and they get plenty of table scraps. For a real treat in the summer, we buy a huge watermelon, cut it in half and they LOVE it. (We buy the kind with seeds for them) When they are free ranging, the first place they head for are the bird feeders and they do an excellent job of pecking up every single tiny seed.....which we appreciate as it can attract rats if left too long. We did have a nasty infestation of rats several years ago so now if we give them "extra's" while in their yard, we only give them enough to eat then and there. Leaving stuff on the ground will, I promise, eventually bring you rats. We have metal garbage cans that every night we put their feeder in and put the lid on tight. We do this will the scratch as well. If there is no food for rats, they will leave, but it's easier to prevent an infestation than it is to get rid of one. It took us over 2 years before we finally got rid of the rats (they had no food, so began eating eggs....the best reason to collect eggs EVERY DAY!!!!) I don't consider my flock as a garbage disposal, but more as echo-friendly composters. My rule of thumb is if I wouldn't use it as fertilizer in my garden (which is where their copious poop goes) then I don't feed it to them. They are all fat and sassy and put their bibs on when they see me coming!

I second that and Blessings to you to care so much