HI, new member here, I think I messed up.... please read

[Darnock]

hello there, names Matt, I'm 30 and living in dalton georgia and this is my first time rising chickens. My chickens are 5 months old.




so I bought a 50lb bag of scratch, 50 bag of pellets, and a 10lb bag of oyster shell..... Without thinking much I mixed everything in a garbage can I use to store the food in. After reading the oyster shell bag it said 1lb of shell per 20lbs of feed.

So what do I do? I read that too much calcium is very bad of chicken organs. Will the chickens not eat the oyster shell? Will they pick around it? Please let me know what to do.. Thanks so much.

 

[NovaAman]

get another garbage can... Put a fresh bag of feed, add a few 2qt pitcher of the oops mix to it, and mix it up. From now after this, set the grit on the side. The problem with calcium is mostly with chicks. Cockerels do not need it either. The hens may just pick around it. As long as you keep the oops mix in a dry location, you should be able to get through it before fall.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[speckledhen]

Hi! Im in Fannin County, only an hour from you.

Good advice from the first reply.

I would not put scratch in the feed in the future. Just use layer feed, put scratch in used mayo jars and throw out a handful in the a.m. or evening. They'll eat the goodies and leave the layer feed they need if you mix it up.

I get one of those rabbit feeder/hoppers, hang it on the wall and put oyster shell in that.

 

[Ashdoes]

That's a lot of scratch. I'm thinking, if you can, buy new feed and use that. Then only use the scratch/feed/shell mix as a treat, like how you should use the scratch. It would last a good long time, if you chuck out a handful at a time. How many chickens do you have?