hi, they lay -- I'm a rookie -- have had some eggs broken, eaten or whatever. I don't know what "layer feed" is; just that I buy 50# sack of either generic or organic--just bought second 50# -- got first 3 last part of March, second 3 first part of May and they came w/25# of generic feed. So what, throw some scratch out now and then? I bought some last week and have thrown out 2 cups each time (took me awhile to get it in back yard) so last 5 days, maybe. I feed them yogurt 1x/wk, raisins, greens, fruit and fruit rinds since my girlfriend, my "Chicken Guru" said to do; however, she was nonspecific on any feeding schedules except "feeding at will" by leaving feeders out.
Question also granules or those chunks?
thnx for feedbk; really appeciate it--Pat
Disclaimer...I'm certainly no chicken expert, these are just a few things I've learned from others here on BYC or from personal experience.
Some 101 for you:
Chicken feed = necessary, should comprise most of their diet as it is a complete nutritional source
feed comes in varieties: chick starter, grower, broiler, layer, finisher
for your purposes either feed layer (calcium already mixed in) or starter or grower (with your oyster shell on the side in a dish)
keep feed in feeders at all times unless you end up with a bad rodent problem, then get different feeders (to keep rodents out) or feed them 1x in morning and 1x in eve before dark
Scratch = not necessary, usually a mix of corn and wheat, feed sparingly as a treat if at all (we keep a bag of whole corn to make the chickens go inside the coop if we want to leave the house)
Grit = necessary unless they have access to dirt or free range, usually crushed granite or some other rock, necessary for them to digest food
Crushed oyster shell = necessary if you feed any feed other than layer, they need this for calcium to lay eggs. DO NOT feed layer feed to chicks less than 18 weeks old. Having crushed oyster shell on the side is a-okay with roosters and chicks around, because they will eat very very little of it while the laying hens will gobble it down
Of what you're feeding, yogurt is good stuff, lots of probiotics. Go easy on the raisins and other things, ie, okay to feed small amounts, but don't regularly feed them massive amounts of anything that is not their purchased feed. We might feed ours a big pile of chopped greens (or fruit scraps) 1x/week or so, but it isn't any sort of regular thing. The reason you don't want to feed too much non-formulated feed stuff is that it can be easy to give your chickens nutritional deficiencies (namely protein) which can lead to health issues or reduced/no egglaying. Okay to feed them meat scraps but not too much cheese (because of the high salt content). Not to scare you here, but just a warning that many new chicken owners tend to do...feed them anything and everything and then wonder why they aren't getting any eggs. If money is real tight, do some research on chicken nutrition and you may be able to come up with how to keep the right kind of variety in a chicken's scrap diet (scrap being your kitchen scraps) to be able to actually feed them well and make a dent in your feed bill. But protein is the expensive part and usually the protein in chicken feed (because it is "feed grade" instead of "food/human grade") will be less expensive than anything you can buy at a grocery store.
As far as the form of the feed (mash, crumbles, pellets, etc) it doesn't matter too much. It depends on what your chickens like to eat. I prefer mash or crumbles as it hasn't been heat treated like pellets. The mfr process of making the pellets requires them to use high heat to put them into pellet form, which degrades nutrients in the feed.
