Foraging

[chickenannie]

I get my feed from a farmer friend who grows and mixes it himself. part of it is ground, coarse grains, and part is powdery like you said. My hens do the same thing -- they pick out all the CORN bits without eating the rest and then look at me like "WE WANT MORE CORN". I've learned that corn is like candy to hens, and it is not a balanced diet for them to subsist on corn. So yes, in my case, and probably in yours, they need to also eat the powdery stuff which has the calcium, probiotics, protein, minerals etc. I don't put feed on the ground anymore, I only use those round feeders -- it wastes a lot less food, and they are kind of "forced" to eat the powder part to get more corn kernels. My turkeys on the other hand, gulp the powder down in huge gulps like it's going out of style. They are weird eaters though.

 

[LazyGirl]

Chickenannie, sounds like our feed is the same. My chix pick out the few corn bits, and even tho their trough is still full of powder, they go around all day STARVING!

(my chickens)
They do eventually eat the powder if i hold off feeding them any more.
I wondered if there was any extra kind of grain or seed i could sprinkle around the ground for forage practice?

 

[panner123]

They will not pick up the powder unless you add something to it, cooked eggs, yougurt.

 

[chickenannie]

Mine eat the powder if I don't refill their feeder ... and I know they need to for their full nutrition so I don't feed them again until evening. They will eat it after the yummy corn is gone. I have far too many birds to feed them all yogurt and cooked eggs every day! But it's a good idea and might work if you just had a couple of birds.

 

[HillCountryMomma]

I have a 100% free range flock of 15 birds (14 pullets, 1 rooster).

They get a square horse feed scoop of 10% protein scratch grain in the mornings, some days I mix it 1/2 cracked corn and 1/2 scratch. It's just a treat for them. They also get all household scraps. I put out oyster shell, and that's all they get on a regular basis! They forage around our 5.5 acres, sometimes cross the outer fence and go to the neighbors but not often. It's almost all ranch land around me, very rural. Oh, when I feed the horses AM & PM they stand around and pick up any grain pellets they drop, my old mare in particular drops enough that the chickens feel it's worth their time to stand around and beg!

They are doing great on primarily just forage. I have Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Ameracaunas, a Buff Orpington and a Jersey Back Giant.

I just turned my young (6-10 week old chicks) flock of replacement pullets out to free range during the day. They went from eating a big pan of feedd in the morning (1/2 chick starter, 1/4 cracked corn, 1/4 scratch) and 1/2 a pan in the evenings to not even finishing the morning feeding now that they can range. My older layer flock has access to that same pan of feed. They all pick at it, then go forage! The replacement flock consists of: Barred Rocks, Black Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, and Black Sex Links.

The only birds I have that are really, really happy to get processed feed are my Freedom Rangers. They will go and forage (just in a tractor right now), but would rather stand in front of a feed tray!!

I've been very, very pleased to see that my layers will pass up the 'dead' commercial feed in favor of 'live' forage (plant, bug, or what ever else). I get really nice, huge eggs and lots of them! Nice fertile eggs too. I've had three hatches from my eggs this year, 2 here at home and one from eggs I gave a friend. My last hatch was under a broody hen.... 11 chicks 8 of which are pullets (black sex links)!!

Liz

 

[Portia]

I have a flock of 15 also, they free range in the fenced portion of my yard that is a little under an acre. There is always food available to them in their feeders, but they eat very little of it; prefering instead to forage the yard. They do love their scratch and house scraps and always act as if they are starving when I walk in the back yard; but believe me, they are not hurting for food.

 

[LazyGirl]

Thanks. I think that my flock will figure it out soon, and I have been feeding them only in the evenings. I've already been able to cut down on at least 1/3 of the food. I just can't fall for their "starving" routine!

Last summer I had 6 hens, and they foraged all day, barely eating everything. This flock of 24 pullets were raised during the winter, so didn't forage from the get-go, and have only been out for a couple months (we had snow on the ground until April). So they are slow to catch on, but hopefully they will get it!
I was really wondering how people can afford these chickens! I sell their eggs, but the profit margin isn't great.
I am going to wait a few more weeks until I know they are laying in the coop, and then I may let them out onto the whole property to forage. The problem this spring was that our house and yard is surrounded by fields. Good, but not when they've been spraying them all the time, and I was also afraid my chickens would eat the corn seed! (Probably not the best farmer-to-farmer relations idea!)