how much do i feed chicken scratch?

[cherrynberry]

I mix a bit of cracked corn, oats, sunflower seeds, grit together and throw it in their pen as I get them in for the night. They clean it up, that is what I use for a treat and in addition to their food. Is that too much at bedtime?

How many chickens? How much of it?

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

@U_Stormcrow

 

[U_Stormcrow]

OK, not sure how I missed this.

Scratch is "treats", its not nutritionally complete, your chickens will not remain healthy on a diet composed significantly of scratch, any more than an ancient sailor could stay healthy on a long sea voyage on hard tack, salted beef, dried veggie, and a serving of grog - though his caloric needs were met.

The general recommend is that, if you feed treats at all (Scratch, veggie scraps from the table, garden waste, BOSS, Mealworms, whatever) it should not exceed 10% by weight, of their daily feed consumption, preferably less. Using the "thumb rule" of 1/4# of complete ration per bird day ( a rough approximation for generic adult birds, NOT a hard number), that about .4 oz or 11gm of treats, daily. Call it a level tablespoon. A "handful", btw is about 8 Tbsp, on average. (yes, I did some logical gymnastics there, as Oz are used for both liquid measure and weight - since treats weigh les sthan water in the same volume, that ensures you don't overmeasure - I worked in a safety factorfor those who tend to heap their teaspoons.)

It doesn't matter that the offered treat is (or may be) "healthy". Spinach is "healthy". Broccoli is "healthy". Kale is "healthy". Lean salmon, skin off is "heathy". Qinoa is "healthy". What matters is that its incomplete. You can't live on any of those things alone, nor could your chickens. and they can only digest so fast, so whatever "treat" they eat ends up displacing some of the complete nutrition from their feed.

Keep it modest, and you will do just fine - under 10% by weight. I use it for training sometimes too, or to encourage them to free range in an area they have been ignoring. Unfortunately, I seem to have trained my chickens that treats come from the barn - so when I open the barn door, they want to flood in...

Anyhow, hope that helps.

 

[cundare]

Once a day or a few times a week is up to you, don't mix it with their feed or they'll just pick it out and ignore the feed.

OK, now I'm confused. We have a pet roo that we feed what I thought was chicken feed We pick it up from the local feed store in plastic bags (they have a dozen varieties), but now I think maybe what we buy is actually scratch. We supplement with Amazon-bought items like sunflower kernels, millet, larvae, various "healthy" chicken mixtures, and at night occasionally give him treats out of the fridge like warmed-up frozen corn kernels & pepper strips, uncooked brown rice, etc. He also stands under the song-bird feeders and catches what they drop, which is mostly millet. He loves all this stuff and occasionally digs up bugs in his free-range area. But 90% of what he eats is what we buy at the feed store. The various flavors contain things like seeds, millet, corn kernels, etc., which sure sound like scratch from descriptions in this thread.

We've had this guy for a year and he seems healthy & reasonably happy, and we're preparing to buy some local hens to replace the wild hen that wandered in and kept him company for a few months. (He wore out the poor girl!) But are we giving him a diet that is harming him? Again, I'm not sure if this stuff we're buying for $1/lb at the feed store is what's known as "scratch" or as "feed." Photo of some of the things we're feeding him is attached.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

OK, now I'm confused. We have a pet roo that we feed what I think is chicken scratch all the time. We pick it up from the local feed store in plastic bags (they have a dozen varieties) and always figured that it was the same thing as "chicken feed." And maybe what we buy is "feed," not "scratch." We supplement with Amazon-bought items like sunflower kernels, millet, various "healthy" chicken mixtures, and at night give him treats out of the fridge like warmed-up frozen corn kernels & pepper strips, uncooked brown rice, etc. But, other than bugs he digs up in his free-range area, 90% of what he eats is this stuff we buy at the feed store. The various flavors of store-feed/scratch contain things like seeds, millet, corn kernels, etc.

We've had the guy for a year and he seems healthy & reasonably happy, and we're preparing to buy some local hens to replace the wild hen that wandered in and kept him company for a few months. But are we giving him a diet that is harming him? Again, I'm not sure if this stuff we're buying for $1/lb at the feed store is what's known as "scratch" or as "feed."

Look on the nutritional label. At the price, I suspect its treats, feed is usually cheaper.

Anyhow, your targets are protein between 16% and 24% - most of BYC's active posters, not raising meaties, commenting in these threads have chosen 18-20% as the "sweet spot" for benefit and price. For a flock that includes roos, chicks, immature/adolescent birds and/or birds which are not particularly productive layers, they look for 1% calcium +/- then offer oyster shell free choice for the birds that need extra. Fat and fiber numbers are open to more debate and less focused on, but expect a number around 4% for fat (again, +/-) and usually 2.5-3.5% fiber. Meat bird feeds will be higher protein, higher fat to help them get "chonky" faster.

Sounds like your Roo is doing a decent job of balancing his diet by free ranging. I prefer to offer a balanced diet, and let the birds free range suppliment to their heart's content. Leaves less to the vagaries of chance, and less prone to seasonal disruptions.

My flock is in my sig, below. They free range about 4.5 acres, of which 1.75 acres is a biodiverse polycultural pasture. Right now, it saves me about 35% on my feed bill.

 

[GC-Raptor]

OK, now I'm confused. We have a pet roo that we feed what I thought was chicken feed We pick it up from the local feed store in plastic bags (they have a dozen varieties), but now I think maybe what we buy is actually scratch.

There are basically 2 different types of chicken feed.

A Starter-Grower feed 18/20% Protein for Chicks and young Pullets/Cockerels till onset of lay, usually 16 to 22 weeks old. Calcium is usually 0.8/1.3%.

A Layer feed 16/18% Protein when egg laying begins. Calcium varies widely, 3.25/4.5% but averages 4%.

There is also All-Flock/Flock Raiser feed 16/20% Protein for a mixed Flock of Poultry with Ducks. Calcium 0.8/1.5%

There's also Meat bird feed and Game bird feed with Protein from 22 to 30%.

Then there's Scratch Grains, a treat, Protein averages 8%, Calcium less than 0.5%.
Should be fed sparingly to promote foraging behavior or to call chickens back to the coop/pen.

I give Scratch daily to promote scratching behavior, entertainment and to stir up shavings inside pens.

GC

ETA; Cockerels/Roosters don't need the extra Calcium in Layer feed.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I toss out a cup, or 2 depending on the amount of birds in the coop. I do this every other day, or maybe once, or twice a week.

I don't start handing out scratch until it starts cooling down. The fat helps the birds get through winter, especially when it gets down into the negatives at night, or daybreak.

I also use scratch to help produce a good fat layer between the skin of Turkeys to keep them nice, & juicy when it comes to roasting for Thanksgiving.

Scratch is mainly a treat, but it also has some good uses. So feed it as a restricted food item, too much isn't good for chicken livers, making chickens fat causes Fatty Liver Disease, & this can be a death sentence for the birds.

 

[cundare]

I toss out a cup, or 2 depending on the amount of birds in the coop. I do this every other day, or maybe once, or twice a week.

I don't start handing out scratch until it starts cooling down. The fat helps the birds get through winter, especially when it gets down into the negatives at night, or daybreak.

I also use scratch to help produce a good fat layer between the skin of Turkeys to keep them nice, & juicy when it comes to roasting for Thanksgiving.

Scratch is mainly a treat, but it also has some good uses. So feed it as a restricted food item, too much isn't good for chicken livers, making chickens fat causes Fatty Liver Disease, & this can be a death sentence for the birds.

Thanks for all the guidance, everybody.

One compllicating factor is that this bird is a finicky eater. For some reason, he won't eat anything much larger than a sunflower kernel or kernel of corn. Field peas, vegetables cut too large, whole sunflower seeds, he just leaves. He'll gobble up millet, finely chopped veggies, etc., but usually won't even go after dried meal worms. He won't touch pellets that approach the size of peas. When we find something he likes, he's excited at first and clucks away, as though trying to call hens to eat, before diving in himself. But after a week or two, he gets tired of that particular item and ignores it from that point on.

As I may have mentioned before, he's an abused bird that we "rescued", possibly from cockfighters who threw him in the street after he was injured. The vets fixed him up for the most part, but he still has injuries that prevent him from folding his wing normally. So maybe he has some sort of psychological damage, or larger pieces of food that most chickens can handle are hard for him to swallow. Who knows? The bottom line is that we sometimes have to jump through hoops to find things he likes. Yes, he's pampered, but he's very good-natured and a wonderful pet. We'd like to keep him as healthy as possible.

Cracked corn and various types of nuts -- cashews, sunflower kernels, pine nuts, etc. -- are a big part of his diet, so long as they're broken up small enough for him. And once in a great while, he does eat some dried larvae. So maybe his diet needs just a fine-tuning, not a complete overhaul. Regardless, this thread has been really helpful (ESPECIALLY GC-RAPTOR's lengthy response) in helping us get a handle on how to keep this guy healthy. Thanks again.

 

[cundare]

Thanks for all the guidance, everybody.

One compllicating factor is that this bird is a finicky eater. For some reason, he won't eat anything much larger than a sunflower kernel or kernel of corn. Field peas, vegetables cut too large, whole sunflower seeds, he just leaves. He'll gobble up millet, finely chopped veggies, etc., but usually won't even go after dried meal worms. When we find something he likes, he's initially excited and clucks away, as though trying to call other birds to eat, before diving in himself. But after a week or two, he gets tired of that particular item and ignores it from that point on.

As I may have mentioned before, he's an abused bird that we "rescued", possibly from cockfighters who threw him in the street after he was injured. The vets fixed him up for the most part, but he still has injuries that prevent him from folding his wing normally. So maybe he has some sort of psychological damage, or larger pieces of food that most chickens can handle are hard for him to swallow. Who knows? The bottom line is that we sometimes have to jump through hoops to find things he likes. Yes, he's pampered.

Cracked corn and various types of nuts -- cashews, sunflower kernels, pine nuts, etc. -- are a big part of his diet, so long as they're broken up small enough for him. And once in a great while, he does eat some dried larvae. So maybe his diet needs just a fine-tuning, not a complete overhaul. Regardless, this thread has been really helpful (ESPECIALLY GC-RAPTOR's lengthy response) in helping us get a handle on how to keep this guy healthy. Thanks again.

I see that field peas are listed as an ingredient in many chicken feed mixtures. Maybe I can buy a can of cooked field peas & break them up...

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks for all the guidance, everybody.

One compllicating factor is that this bird is a finicky eater. For some reason, he won't eat anything much larger than a sunflower kernel or kernel of corn. Field peas, vegetables cut too large, whole sunflower seeds, he just leaves. He'll gobble up millet, finely chopped veggies, etc., but usually won't even go after dried meal worms. He won't touch pellets that approach the size of peas. When we find something he likes, he's excited at first and clucks away, as though trying to call hens to eat, before diving in himself. But after a week or two, he gets tired of that particular item and ignores it from that point on.

As I may have mentioned before, he's an abused bird that we "rescued", possibly from cockfighters who threw him in the street after he was injured. The vets fixed him up for the most part, but he still has injuries that prevent him from folding his wing normally. So maybe he has some sort of psychological damage, or larger pieces of food that most chickens can handle are hard for him to swallow. Who knows? The bottom line is that we sometimes have to jump through hoops to find things he likes. Yes, he's pampered, but he's very good-natured and a wonderful pet. We'd like to keep him as healthy as possible.

Cracked corn and various types of nuts -- cashews, sunflower kernels, pine nuts, etc. -- are a big part of his diet, so long as they're broken up small enough for him. And once in a great while, he does eat some dried larvae. So maybe his diet needs just a fine-tuning, not a complete overhaul. Regardless, this thread has been really helpful (ESPECIALLY GC-RAPTOR's lengthy response) in helping us get a handle on how to keep this guy healthy. Thanks again.

Will he eat wet mash?

That would be a good way to give him a nutritious diet in a potentially more palatable form.