HELP! What to feed if I don't want Hen Scratch/Pellets

[cmom]

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Why not?

Chickens are omnivors.

I agree chickens are omnivores. When they free range they are out eating bugs, worms and mine eat grubs too.

 

[MetalSmitten]

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this. personally, i really don't like bha and ethoxiquin. but everything else looks fine. go on wikipedia and just plug in a few of those chemical names, you'll see what their purpose is

i'm also fine with chickens getting meat-based proteins, they are omnivores.

 

[Ariel301]

Animal protein sources are the best ones for chickens, in my opinion. They naturally do take in some animal foods; they are not herbivores.

You can buy an organic complete pellet or crumble. If none of the stores around you carry one, try Azure Standard online. They're a natural foods co-op and they carry organic animal feeds.

You can also venture into mixing your own feed, but if you don't have a lot of knowledge of poultry nutrition, the time to commit to learning what you need to know, and/or the help of someone who already knows how to do this, then it might not be for you. You don't want to accidentally deprive your birds of things they need, this can stunt their growth, make them stop laying, and even cause sickness and death. I personally mix my own because I don't like what I read on the label of layer feeds--not just the chemicals, but the fact that I can't know exactly what they mean when they say "grain products" or "grain by-products"--because those are vague terms and allow the company to change the formula constantly based on whatever's cheap. Also, "complete" animal diets (as well as many low-priced human vitamin/mineral supplements and "fortified" foods) often are made with the cheapest vitamin/mineral sources available, so they can keep the prices down. Unfortunately, those cheap sources are often ones with low absorption rates--an example being the copper oxide usually used as a copper source in grain mixes and salt/mineral supplements for livestock. Copper oxide is extremely cheap. It's also practically useless, unlike copper sulfate, which is easy for animals to use, but more expensive. If you are interested, send me a PM and I'll tell you my feed recipe. I won't guarantee it will work for every flock, but it has worked very well for me.

 

[grandmaof5]

Ariel, I'd like to see you recipe, too. May I send you an email?

 

[vjbakke]

You could opt for an organic feed, We use the soy free layer pellets that we buy through Azure Standard.