First time chicken owner, having a blast but wondering if I’m over feeding non feed.

[Folly's place]

I had livestock nutrition and poultry classes in college, and they convinced me that home milling is way too much trouble and expense!
There's a lot of information about poultry nutrition available, and it's as close as your nearest university poultry department. There are recipies both good and not so terrific on this site, so do LOTS of research.
Buying grains by the 50 pound bag, a big bag of poultry ration balancer (and that company has lots of help too!), storing everything, and still feeding fresh, is difficult. Having a mill to grind it, which will be in small batches, is more work and time spent. If you feed whole grains, the birds will pick out the good stuff and leave the rest, also not good.
For a very small flock, I really don't think it makes any sense at all...
Eggs stay warm for a while. Helpful, right?
Eggs can be produced every 25+ hours, with a day off here and there, in high producing hens. The annual record is amazing, but none of our birds are likely to approach it!
Mary

 

[DrKraus]

I had livestock nutrition and poultry classes in college, and they convinced me that home milling is way too much trouble and expense!
There's a lot of information about poultry nutrition available, and it's as close as your nearest university poultry department. There are recipies both good and not so terrific on this site, so do LOTS of research.
Buying grains by the 50 pound bag, a big bag of poultry ration balancer (and that company has lots of help too!), storing everything, and still feeding fresh, is difficult. Having a mill to grind it, which will be in small batches, is more work and time spent. If you feed whole grains, the birds will pick out the good stuff and leave the rest, also not good.
For a very small flock, I really don't think it makes any sense at all...
Eggs stay warm for a while. Helpful, right?
Eggs can be produced every 25+ hours, with a day off here and there, in high producing hens. The annual record is amazing, but none of our birds are likely to approach it!
Mary

Do they typically lay at the same time ish each day or not at all for that whole day if they miss it?

I understand the Buckeye will taper off, she is only rated at 200 eggs per year but I got her for free ranging and mousing and she is doing great at both. The egg a day has been amazing but then she is very young so I’m guessing this will slow down over the next few months.

Hopefully she continued to free range well and keep finding mice and eating them as well, amazing little creatures with a lot of breed diversity no two chickens are alike!

Thanks for the info. Is there a recommended feed or two that is available at big box stores? As it sounds like milling for six is unreasonable.

 

[Folly's place]

Your girl is doing great so far, good for her!
I feed Purina Flock Raiser, 20% protein, with oyster shell on the side. It works for my flock of old, young, hens, and roosters, so it's easy. It's available at local stores here within four or five weeks of the mill date, and I feed it within another three or four weeks.
Fresh is important!
Find something that's fresh where you shop, organic if you want to use that, and don't be dazzled by super cheap!
Mary

 

[Ebony Rose]

Grit, good. Calcium supplemented and on the side, good. 3-grain? STOP. That's like feeding your chickens cotton candy, potato chips and Kool-aid all day, every day!
Their overall treats vs well balanced feed ratio should never exceed 10% by weight (not volume). Treats are anything that's not in the bag of "all flock" chicken food, grit or calcium supplement. Since your flock also free ranges, you need to cut way back on the treats because they're already being treated by nature. 20% protein is considered a good feed for chickens, but you've been adding in things that drastically reduce that overall protein. Oatmeal is 2.4% protein... Hulled barley is 12%... Corn is 7%... As you can see, feeding these grains drastically reduces their overall protein, which translates into undernourished chickens and various health and egg production problems down the road. I totally understand wanting to treat them, but pick something that's much higher in protein to treat them with. Sardines ala carte or mashed into their feed. Dry catfood that you've made soft by soaking it in water. Hard boiled or scrambled eggs (can be served mashed up with shell and all), etc. are a few ideas for snacks that won't kill their diet.

 

[DrKraus]

Your girl is doing great so far, good for her!
I feed Purina Flock Raiser, 20% protein, with oyster shell on the side. It works for my flock of old, young, hens, and roosters, so it's easy. It's available at local stores here within four or five weeks of the mill date, and I feed it within another three or four weeks.
Fresh is important!
Find something that's fresh where you shop, organic if you want to use that, and don't be dazzled by super cheap!
Mary

We started with that, good to know because the girls really like that one I just switched to a bag of medicated because I would feel awful if they died of something preventable.

This is probably going to come off as a stupid question but why is it bad to over fed them grains but they can free range from sun up to sun down eating everything from grubs to bugs to tomatoes, grass and weeds and that is fine?

Is it because they’re not really getting much from free range feeding? They seem to spend quite a bit of time scratching and peaking all over the backyard.

 

[PirateGirl]

My gut reaction is that if you are even asking this question, then yes, you are likely overfeeding. It's a rare occasion my flock gets anything other than their regular feed and they do not NEED anything other than their regular feed. If I have a bit of leftovers that no one in my house has eaten after a week or two and they are past their prime, then they might go to the chickens. I would stop offering the 3 grain blend and just give a ration on occasion as a treat. Perhaps some of your other food scraps (if it's more than chickens should eat) could be used to start a compost pile or something.

 

[DrKraus]

Grit, good. Calcium supplemented and on the side, good. 3-grain? STOP. That's like feeding your chickens cotton candy, potato chips and Kool-aid all day, every day!
Their overall treats vs well balanced feed ratio should never exceed 10% by weight (not volume). Treats are anything that's not in the bag of "all flock" chicken food, grit or calcium supplement. Since your flock also free ranges, you need to cut way back on the treats because they're already being treated by nature. 20% protein is considered a good feed for chickens, but you've been adding in things that drastically reduce that overall protein. Oatmeal is 2.4% protein... Hulled barley is 12%... Corn is 7%... As you can see, feeding these grains drastically reduces their overall protein, which translates into undernourished chickens and various health and egg production problems down the road. I totally understand wanting to treat them, but pick something that's much higher in protein to treat them with. Sardines ala carte or mashed into their feed. Dry catfood that you've made soft by soaking it in water. Hard boiled or scrambled eggs (can be served mashed up with shell and all), etc. are a few ideas for snacks that won't kill their diet.

They also have full access to alfalfa hay and get protein from moist and dry cat food as well as any leftovers like ground beef in tomato sauce with noodles :/

I get by doing this I’m probably not giving them the balanced diet they need so I’m going to cut way back and stop watching people like John Suscovich & Justin Rhodes etc.

I was just operating under the assumption that if I offered them a wide range of different foods hitting all the specific needs they would figure out what they needed like they do with grit.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I watch Justin Rhodes too, and love his youtube channel. Sometime long ago, he did specify their treat vs feed ratio, but he doesn't do that all the time. I also love how he runs his chickens behind other animals in their 'tractors' to pick up what the others left behind.

 

[21hens-incharge]

You have been given great advice by knowledgeable poultry keepers.
I really hope it helps your flock to live long productive lives.

Offer a 5 year old a chocolate bar and a bowl of broccoli....pretty sure the chocolate bar will be gone first.

 

[rosemarythyme]

We started with that, good to know because the girls really like that one I just switched to a bag of medicated because I would feel awful if they died of something preventable.

Medicated feed is meant as a preventative to help protect chicks from coccidiosis as they develop resistance to it. If your chickens have already been running around fine without medicated feed, they really don't need it now.