For the MINIMALISTS - those who think less is more in chicken keeping - Please help

[KyCoop]

Scratch is a bagged treat you can buy at the store that has different seeds and corn in it. You can throw a little out for some enrichment for them. A little is 1 tbs or so per girl. I mix meal worms and soldier fly larva with mine.
As a side note. Do not give them corn in the summer. It heats them from the inside as it digests. Good for winter, just not summer.

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

I give them all their eggshells crushed up in a bowl for whenever they want them.
I collect them in a metal bucket in the kitchen and whenever I am using the oven after I turn it off I put the bucket in the oven (it is a small bucket!).
Some people do that because of hygiene - I do it because it makes them super easy to crush.
Once they are cool I crush them inside the bucket with a bottle in the kitchen and then pour them into a feeder attached to the coop wall.
They seem to love them much more than the oyster shell that they also have freely available.
When they weren't laying and I had to buy eggs I gave them those shells as well.


Yes. I give them most of my kitchen scraps. I put it in the covered run and what they don't like just rots down in the deep litter.
I do think a bit about pesticides so tend to wash things I give them. So cucumbers is a great example - if I am eating the skins I wash them first. If I am peeling them I might not bother to wash them. But if I am giving the skins to the chickens I will wash them.

This is awesome! Thanks so much for providing details. I like using what's available to me so giving them the shells is a great idea since I eat 4 eggs a day. How small do they have to be?

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

Scratch is a bagged treat you can buy at the store that has different seeds and corn in it. You can throw a little out for some enrichment for them. A little is 1 tbs or so per girl. I mix meal worms and soldier fly larva with mine.
As a side note. Do not give them corn in the summer. It heats them from the inside as it digests. Good for winter, just not summer.

Wow, interesting tid bit on the corn in the summer. I wonder how that happens biologically.

Noted on the mixing of different treats. Do you toss it into the run bedding? If so, does it draw animals?

 

[3KillerBs]

Do you give them eggshells a lot? This is interesting. How often do you suggest to give them the shells?

I dry and crush them then put them into the oystershell container: Feeders and Scoops From Recycled Bottles

What is "scratch?"

It's a mix of less expensive grains, minimally processed. Here's one kind: https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/product/p-25075-country-feeds-scratch-grains-50-lb

You don't get critters from doing this?

No, I don't give them more than they'll clean up within a reasonable time. I have a very large flock so they can clean up a LOT.

But when we say "toss a handful" that's literal -- just a handfull grabbed from the bag.

The 10% treat "rule" amounts of a tablespoon or so per bird -- less for you since you have bantams.

Does the run have to be 12ish inches of straw like the coop?

No, at least not initially.

Let them destroy the grass first then start adding litter as needed. It can build up, but you don't start with a deep layer.

Yes. I give them most of my kitchen scraps. I put it in the covered run and what they don't like just rots down in the deep litter.

Likewise. I do even throw in some things like withered sweet potatoes that I know they don't like much because it will compost there and they do like the composting bugs.

Do not give them corn in the summer. It heats them from the inside as it digests.

This is a myth. All digestive processes create warmth regardless of what the food is.

 

[RoyalChick]

This is awesome! Thanks so much for providing details. I like using what's available to me so giving them the shells is a great idea since I eat 4 eggs a day. How small do they have to be?

Not sure. I pound my bucket with the base of a wine bottle a couple of times. I guess mostly the pieces are about a quarter inch. But baked eggshel crushes easily so some is almost powder.

 

[3KillerBs]

Note,

They don't need eggshells or oystershell until they reach Point-of-Lay. The extra calcium is for egg production.

I keep it out all the time for my mixed flock and after trying a few samples the juveniles and the males don't eat it.

 

[KyCoop]

I give them their scratch in their yard but sometimes if the weather is bad in their run. Just a little and they clean it up very quickly. I have had a couple mice before but the girls made short work of them.

 

[RoyalChick]

Here is the buffet line I have for eggshell (empty in the picture as I was going out to fill it); grit (probably not needed as they have access to regular dirt but it is clay soil with few rocks and I had one with a crop issue); and oyster shell (which I have never seen them eat).

I keep them all topped up so they are there if anyone wants some.

 

[Sally PB]

I read somewhere that dried black soldier fly larvae is good, too. Do you think the dried mealworms draw mice?

They won't be around long enough for the mice to find them, I bet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Wow, interesting tid bit on the corn in the summer. I wonder how that happens biologically.

Mostly in people's imagination though it is repeated a lot on this forum. I think the general theory is that since corn is fairly high in oil you should feed them corn before they go to bed in really cold winter in winter so they can heat themselves as they digest it. Somebody saw that recommendation and determined that feeding them corn in summer was bad. You get that kind of reasoning a lot on here. Once it gets posted others take it as a given. So, yeah that was probably something read on this forum.

If you look at the nutrients analysis you could get the same effect with high oil or fat mealworms or BOSS, winter or summer. If you look at the ingredients list on the chicken feeds many include corn, which is fed year around. Many of us do not feed extra stuff like this in cold weather and, like the wild birds that overwinter where you are, the chickens make it through the night fine. As long as you don't overdo it this will not hurt anything, any more than wild birds filling up at a bird feeder. Not all wild birds have access to a bird feeder before they go to bed.

Commercial chicken feed from a standard source has all the nutrients chickens need for a balanced diet if that is all they eat. A lot of us like to feed extra that we call treats. As you may have noticed "treat" can mean different things to different people. If you control everything that they eat a rule of thumb is that all treats should constitute no more than 10% of their diet so their diet stays balanced, whether it is a good treat or bad treat nutritionally. The attempt is to be balanced in all ingredients. Scratch is not a balanced chicken feed, it is a treat.

I don't follow that rule of thumb. Mine forage for a fair amount of their feed so I'm not able to micromanage their nutrient intake if I wanted to. In season mine may get a lot more than 10% of their daily diet from some treat. That can be garden excess (especially when I'm cleaning up) or when I'm canning they can get an overload. Orchards are dropping a lot of fruit or berries they can get to may have a lot ripe. It's not every day they get the same excess, it kind of balances out. Studies have shown they can do a decent job of balancing it themselves if they have quality forage so they can choose. I'm a lot more laid back on balancing their diet than some people.

I don't know what to suggest to you. There are people on here that can do an excellent job in helping you micromanage everything they eat if you want to go that direction. I'm not one of them.