I have 4 (or 6) hens and 1 (or 3, LOL) roosters, who free range for about 10 to 12 hours daily. Most of their awake time. I also have free choice feeders of layer pellets and crushed oyster shell (separately) available to them in the coop day and night. We also feed them kitchen scraps, that include veggie leftovers that they share with the compost bin, and even leftover meals that would probably otherwise end up in trash, like veggie soup (they mostly pick out the good stuff) and even pasta. We also throw them old bread, occasional corn cobs, melon rinds, and handfuls of bird seed that we use in our bird feeders....pretty high in protein, but it's fed them to them rarely. There are other things I'm sure that I'm forgetting...
Anyway, we stopped at a neighbors house today...they've got a flock of maybe 20 or so birds, including a bunch of layers and some newish birds that looked to be maybe 6 weeks old? Guessing. They basically get let out in the morning and locked up at night. I asked if they are fed anything to supplement whatever they eat in free range. She said that they mostly give them table scraps and every once in a while a little layer food, though what I saw was a few ounces in a tiny bowl inside a the coop that apparently only gets used at night.
So I'm wondering...how nutritional, for egg layers, is free ranging. I've been going through maybe 10-15 lbs a week, give or take, for our 7 birds of pellets, even though they spend most of all their day time hours free ranging. Am I providing them with more than they need? Should I cut them off from layer during the day somehow, and force free range grazing? What's the popular thought on the matter? Thanks!
Anyway, we stopped at a neighbors house today...they've got a flock of maybe 20 or so birds, including a bunch of layers and some newish birds that looked to be maybe 6 weeks old? Guessing. They basically get let out in the morning and locked up at night. I asked if they are fed anything to supplement whatever they eat in free range. She said that they mostly give them table scraps and every once in a while a little layer food, though what I saw was a few ounces in a tiny bowl inside a the coop that apparently only gets used at night.
So I'm wondering...how nutritional, for egg layers, is free ranging. I've been going through maybe 10-15 lbs a week, give or take, for our 7 birds of pellets, even though they spend most of all their day time hours free ranging. Am I providing them with more than they need? Should I cut them off from layer during the day somehow, and force free range grazing? What's the popular thought on the matter? Thanks!
