Grandfathers way!! WRONG WAY !!

[pete1]

ok so my

grandfathers 88 yrs old and ever scene i was old enough to remember hes been giving our chickens a mixture of scratch and crumble 1 part to 1 part every day 2 times a day for my whole life ! now im a little confused !!! help me out ever scene i remember all out chickens have had no feathers on there back is this from the scratch or the crumble ?

my grandfather seams to think that the crumble is the "hot" food and no one can tell him the different!

so my question is whats all the feeds and whats there purpose and how can i tell

a stubborn old man different !

scratch:

crumble:

layer crumble:

 

[georgialee]

Well, as far as I know crumble is only the term for the size of the feed. There's chick start, grower and layer feed (also finisher for meaties). Scratch is to be fed as a snack and not a significant part of the diet. I'm not sure what he means by 'hot' food - that he feeds it when it's hot outside or that it makes the chooks hot? I've heard people giving corn in the winter b/c it generates heat but I think that has pretty much been proved as an old wive's tale.. .someone posted a study here on byc.

 

[mrsengeseth]

I wouldn't bother trying to correct grandfather, he's made it 88 years without being corrected on this. Let him raise his birds on the ratio he believes is good for them. The lack of feathers could be from bored picking of mating.

That being said, I would feed MY birds differently.

I use layer feed (crumbles or pellets, don't make a diffence to us) as 75% of their diet. Scratch grains equate to 10% and the last 15% is garden scraps, kitchen scraps, ground egg shell, mealworms, other bugs, and freerange finds, and mung bean sprouts. I should edit to say that the chooks always have access to the greens and such, so the percentages could be off quite a bit.
ANd I don't hold fast to it. some days they may gorge themselves on tatermelons they find in the yard and not go after the other stuff or wahtever...

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

basically your grandfather seen that chickens do eat both and the fact that he raised chickens on the scratch is what people used to use

then the commercial feed came along and yes it had more protein and more heat as he called it. Thus he is convinced it is not neccessary as it costs much more than scratch

also just let him be happy and give the crumbles as the most important feed and the scratch as a night time treat to get the chickens to come back to the shed for night

you see I remember when commercial crumbles or mash became known as chicken feed
aND IT CAME IN CLOTH BAGS THAT MY MOTHER SEWED OUR DRESSES OUT OF
SO SHE GOT THE SAME FEED SACK PATTERN IN SEVERAL 50 # SACKS

this was a improvement for the hens to lay good eggs
my father ground up corn, oats and alfalfa hay for chicken feed and added 38% protein to the feed so the 500 hens would lay good

we also had milk cows that we seperated the cream off of and then made 55 gallon barrells of whole oats soaked in the skim milk over night
and yes it was sour mlik but the hens and hogs loved it and we got use of the skim milk

So you see we had things you'all didn't have back in the early 40's

so feed them and make your grandfather happy by letting him think he is right

Does he live with you? if not just don't bring the subject up to him and let him be happy he is right
any questions email me

 

[gritsar]

What the old-timers (including my DH) around here call hot feed is the high protein feed fed to the commercial broiler chickens. So perhaps your grandpa is calling higher protein feed, like gamebird feed, hot.
I am the first chicken keeper on this farm who feeds my chickens layer pellets. All the generations before me fed them scratch grains or chops (which is simply chopped corn) and table scraps. Their chickens did just fine. They may not have lived as long, but they were fine.
P.S. It wasn't necessary for their chickens to live as long because as soon as a hen slowed down in her laying, she went in the pot.

 

[Chris09]

I would say it chickens picken each other or too many roosters with too little hens... Mixing 1/2 and 1/2 grain and crumble I dont think will do it unless the crumble is less than 16% protein.
I mix:
50 lbs 16% layer breeder,
30 lbs 10% scratch grain,
10 lbs 16% Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal
10 lbs of 20% big 4 pellet
I have no bare backs... You might try to up your protein.

 

[Mahlzeit]

The lack of feathers on the back is most likely from over mating. I have one rooster with about 28 hens and he has his favorites(they now have barebacks) and then he has some he barely touches. It happens.

 

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
True, but how do you explain the bare butts under the vent? That's picking. Check around your coop. Do you have a few with nice fluffy butts? They're the pickers!

How do you up the protein in your scratch grains, what should I add, besides BOSS?

 

[Mahlzeit]

Quote:
True, but how do you explain the bare butts under the vent? That's picking. Check around your coop. Do you have a few with nice fluffy butts? They're the pickers!

How do you up the protein in your scratch grains, what should I add, besides BOSS?

I didn't see it say bare butts anywhere.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Quote:
That's what we do, also.