How Much layer?? How much Scratch??

[jenjscott]

they actually don't need anything but the layer feed. If you feed corn, it should be very little. especially in the summer. It puts on too much fat.

 

[Sissy]

I always have had my ladies on and the (roo)
that shares their coop Purina layena.24/7 and water
nothing else ,once in a while
I toss
in a bunch of kale which they love. as a treat.
all are penned in a dirt floor run with a wood floor coop for nite time.they do just fine.In the winter months I give them some
toasted old bread.

 

[peakpoultry]

That's very interesting! Alls these people here around where I live feed cracked corn, layer, oyster shells and scratch, most of them mix it all together. I have been mixing layer, scratch and oyster shells together. I guess I am wasting money. So I should only be feeding the ones that are laying layer and oyster shells, and every now and then give them scratch. What about the roosters in with the hens?

 

[peakpoultry]

Quote:
Is the purina lay just the layer pellets or does it have some other stuff in there to?

 

[speckledhen]

The Purina Layena is just pellets, nothing else, and so is most layer feed, whether pellets or crumbles. If I put scratch in a container with layer pellets, those goofs would only eat the candy (scratch). They'd dump the layer all over, digging out what they liked best, so they only get layer pellets in the feeders, period. My roosters who live with the hens eat what the hens eat. My crippled rooster eats an 11-grain scratch( really a rooster feed) mixed with some layer pellets or game bird grower crumble.

 

[Judy]

Where I live, people often call cracked corn "chicken feed." I can drive down my road about 1 mile and buy this "chicken feed" much cheaper than layer or starter/grower from the feed store. Traditionally, they feed cracked corn and table scraps, and let the chickens free range. And I do mean free range. In the road, in the parking lot at the jiffy store, in the neighbor's cow pasture, wherever. So the chickens find plenty of bugs, snakes, frogs, mice, etc. These people also put hens in the stew pot when they stop laying, so the chickens don't live more than 2 or 3 years. I never heard of grit til I joined BYC, and at the feed store, when I asked about it, they thought I was talking about Southern grits, as served for breakfast around here. Oyster shell? We won't go there. But then, our soil has lots of sand and limestone, so there's the grit and calcium.

These "old-fashioned" ways, like mixing scratch or cracked corn with feed, are not necessarily the healthiest or most efficient way to raise chickens, but they worked for generations, and I do respect the experience and opinions of the oldsters! They had few sources of info besides word of mouth. And we are fortunate to have BYC, because even now, available info and research are limited.

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens can certainly live on an old fashioned diet, but remember that some of those old timers had other livestock and the birds often ate the gleanings from those animals, in addition to whatever corn and scraps they were thrown. Even my 100 year old grandfather, who had a real farm (not a hobby farm-he plowed with mules) bought laying mash for his hens. I've seen chicks raised on a low quality scratch diet, and they are almost pitiful in their size. They need higher protein than that, as do laying hens. So, I know they will survive, but will they really thrive? Depends on circumstances (like having other livestock to take the spillage from).

 

[ChickensInTheNorthWoods]

Quote:
If you let them free range you will have less snakes!

I have OS in a gravity feeder so they can have it when they want it (and ohh what a difference in the shells!) I use Scratch grains as a treat (a great way to make your chickens friendly / enjoy human interaction) and I leave the Layer feeder out 24/7 which is ok for chickens but not suggested for cornish X or turkey pullets

 

[peakpoultry]

That's what most people around here feed their chickens is Walmart brand scratch, etc. I'm not sure if it is good food or not. I try and buy my feed from the feed stores. I know I go through a LOT of feed. Should I just mixed the layer and the oyster shells together? I know I don't have to use a lot of oyster shells. Also as far as the layer mash, we have that here, does it have more then just layer and oyster shell in it? I think it also has cracked corn.

 

[peakpoultry]

Quote:
If you let them free range you will have less snakes!

I have OS in a gravity feeder so they can have it when they want it (and ohh what a difference in the shells!) I use Scratch grains as a treat (a great way to make your chickens friendly / enjoy human interaction) and I leave the Layer feeder out 24/7 which is ok for chickens but not suggested for cornish X or turkey pullets

Everyone keeps telling me that, I'm sure we would have less snakes, but the coyotes are pretty bad, they take off with peoples little dogs around here, so do the crows, hawks, whatever they are.