Hand-feeding...am/pm

[Chris09]

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Depends I suppose on how much you want to baby them,

I don't think anyone said anything about babying them.

Chris​

 

[clairabean]

May I ask WHY you want to do that?

 

[1hawaiian]

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I live in a rural community... where we have Pheasants, Francolins, Chukars, and Wild Turkeys and Axis deer roaming freely in my backyard. I have observed these birds for awhile now
and have watched their habits. They make do on very little but are exceptionally healthy and hardy game birds and they eat a variety of stuff!

My RIR's are not GAME BIRDS and do have different requirements but I want them to have ACCESS to a variety of foods in their diet as well. I want to experiment with this arrangement
because I feel they will be able to get alot of natural protein in their diets by foraging and working for their food. I believe they will be very HAPPY and HEALTHY hens.

I'll scatter some feed in their coop/run in the mornings (6am) and provide them with a variety of fresh veggie scraps.

Then, in the early afternoonI (2pm)... I'll let them out to free-range in a large fenced-enclosure to forage for bugs,worms, and grasses/weeds for 1-2 hours.

I would then bring them back into their coop/run and scatter more feed @ 4pm with more fresh veggie scraps and kitchen scraps.

I will monitor their condition and weight...making the necessary adjustments to my feeding regiment as needed... my ultimate goal is to have a small healthy and happy flock.

I'll post-up my findings after a year...

 

[vclark321]

Aloha! I have a RIR and when the gals were just babies I had them indoors and had food and water available 24/7. I started feeding them dandelion greens cut up and then they went outside into the coop after about 12 weeks or when they could get out of their pen.

I put food out for them, but they prefer roam on the range and I would gather they are getting enough to eat since they eat very little of the crumble. I do throw cracked corn or scratch around the yard in different spots for them to find during the day. They have done a great job getting rid of the moss in the lawn.

Send some sun my way? Please? Welcome to BYC! I have learned so much from the great people!

 

[1hawaiian]

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hehehehe....
The sun is coming your way

Mahalo, for sharing your experiences....

My girls will only be a month old and I do want them to get off to a great start...so I will make sure they get all the food they can eat in their coop/run
for another month (free choice)....I'm hoping that at 2 months of age, they should be old enough to be aggressive foragers and be able to get much of the protein they need outside, along with the feed I'll scatter am/pm.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

This is how it works at my place: babies and young chicks get their feed in a feeder. They are growing and eating constantly and eat all the time. Once they are finished growing and join the flock, they eat their feed off the ground with the rest of the big birds. I cannot leave feed in or around my coop, it draws in the mice and they can go through a TON of feed. I feed the main flock no more then they can eat in 15-20 mins, and I feed them twice a day. They also get left overs and treats I bring home from work for them (I work as a chef in a restaurant). This works well for me. Most will say you'll just be wasting your feed, but I go through less feed now then when I was using a feeder. When I put the feed down I don't scatter it all around, I pour it in a line so none is lost. Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[1hawaiian]

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Great info...Thank you for sharing this is very helpful and very much along the lines of what I'm planning to do and for very similar reasons