high protein foods for molting?

[peep417]

What kind of foods are high in protein? Need to get this month and a half molt over with! And am I spelling molting right? Lol

 

[Judy]

Most anything animal sourced. Mealworms are a popular source for chickens. Some seeds such as black oil sunflower seeds are pretty good. Game bird feed usually has no animal source (such as fish meal) but is higher in vegetable protein, and some people like to buy a bag or two at molting time. It doesn't supply the higher calcium that layers need, but then they are not laying, generally, when molting. With smaller flocks, small amounts of meat table scraps may be enough. Keep in mind that chickens are lactose intolerant as they do not make lactase, so large quantities of milk products may upset them.

 

[chikkenfriend]

We don't feed too much other than high quality chicken feed. Of these, there are basically three types: Starter, Grower, and Layer.

Layer is lower in protein but usually has calcium. We too, needed to up our girls protein (older girls molting too), so we went back to grower (a bit higher in protein than layer) and keep a constant supply of Oyster Shell (calcium) for the girls as they need.

Bugs and mealworms are high protein but it's kinda hard to fill a feeder with those.

But free ranging has helped our birds a bunch!

If you're looking for other foods to supplement with, look up 'treat chart'. There is a really good one on here somewhere. A pretty good list of what is safe and what is not.

Best of luck to ya!!

 

[Chris09]

What kind of foods are high in protein? Need to get this month and a half molt over with! And am I spelling molting right? Lol

A lot depends on what you are already feeding..

If your feeding the average backyard chicken a good high quality feed that contains animal proteins and is around 20% proteins theres not much you have to worry about. If your feeding them say a lower end feed that is vegetarian based with no animal protein and is less than 20% protein you may want to supplement with animal proteins and try to up there feed to 20%.

There are a number of way to up there animal protein and there proteins.
A good quality Game Bird feed has fish meal and may contain porcine meat meal.
Floating Fish pellets can contain a number of animal proteins most common being Fish Meal, spray dried Porcine Blood Cells, Dried Egg Products and Feather Meal.
A good high quality dog food like Bil-Jac frozen is also a great supplement, it contains Beef Tripe, Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, and Beef Liver.

You will have to read the feed tag, some cheaper game bird feeds and floating fish pellets do not have animal proteins in it..

I myself feed a high quality Game Bird feed that is 20% protein and contains animal proteins year round to my exhibition birds and I still supplement.

 

[peep417]

That stuff doesn't sound healthy... Chicken and chicken by-product meal in chicken food? I heard that you can feed them chicken but never heard of putting chicken in there food! I only feed my chickens mostly organic or natural foods...

 

[welasharon]

A chicken is designed to eat meat as well as plants. It's natural. Meat is meat to them. They don't care if it's chicken or anything else. They catch bugs and small rodents and snakes when they can. Mine love to eat frogs. Rather freaky. If a chicken dies they will eat it unless you remove it. It is the way of nature. I hope I never knock myself out in the chicken pen. I do believe they would eat me.

 

[Chris09]

That stuff doesn't sound healthy... Chicken and chicken by-product meal in chicken food? I heard that you can feed them chicken but never heard of putting chicken in there food! I only feed my chickens mostly organic or natural foods...

Chicken and chicken by-product meal is 100% natural and it is 100% natural for chickens to eat meat, even chicken and chicken by-products.

In my opinion and others, any chicken feed that does not contain a animal protein of some sort should never be called "Natural"...

 

[texaspolloloco]

A chicken is designed to eat meat as well as plants. It's natural. Meat is meat to them. They don't care if it's chicken or anything else. They catch bugs and small rodents and snakes when they can. Mine love to eat frogs. Rather freaky. If a chicken dies they will eat it unless you remove it. It is the way of nature. I hope I never knock myself out in the chicken pen. I do believe they would eat me.

"They would eat me" LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Chicken and chicken by-product meal is 100% natural and it is 100% natural for chickens to eat meat, even chicken and chicken by-products.

In my opinion and others, any chicken feed that does not contain a animal protein of some sort should never be called "Natural"...

And that stuff they call all vegetarian chicken feed. It just burns me up that people fall for it. It is like trying to make a cat a vegetarian. Just not in their nature to be that way.

Makes me wonder if vegetarians don't consider grasshoppers a meat item.

 

[Chris09]

And that stuff they call all vegetarian chicken feed. It just burns me up that people fall for it. It is like trying to make a cat a vegetarian. Just not in their nature to be that way.

Makes me wonder if vegetarians don't consider grasshoppers a meat item.

I know the feeling, I dropped at least 4 feed mfg. over the years just because they when't to a vegetarian feed mix.