How much to feed??

[jondecker76]

I have 5 chickens, all 7 months old. 4 of them are Golden Buffs and there is also one black Jersey Giant.
They are in a chicken tractor that provides 6 sq. ft of run space per bird (where they do their forraging). The chicken tractor is moved 2 times per day to fresh new grass. Any time of the day I can look out and see them eating grass and scratching. They are putting on good weight and look very healthy.

To supplement their diets, I mix 2 cups of purina layer feed wth 1/4 cup oyser shells and a hand full of whole kernel corn (whick they eat redily with no problems). I spread this directly on the ground in thier run every morning so they can scratch and find the goodies. They also get a small amount of dinner scraps on most nights.

Does it sound like I am supplementing them with enough extra food? How do I know how much layer feed and oyster shells to give daily to each chicken? They do eat readily on the grass, worms ad bugs in the yard (and I think it helps that I move the tractor so often) and look healthy, but I just want to be sure I am giving them enough.


Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I use layer pellets as the main food source and only give the other as occasional treats, all my hens are healthy and strong.

 

[Kittymomma]

I have layer feed (or gamebird/flockraiser when chicks are on the ground) out 24/7. Some like to take it up at night if they are worried about rodents. Scratch is like candy for chickens, a little bit is good to keep them friendly, but it doesn't have much nutritional value so they only get less then 1/4 cup each per day. Kitchen scraps are great, mine love the variety and I especially love to watch them chase each other over spaghetti.

Oyster shell is in a seperate container from the feed and also out for them 24/7, I find that some of the chooks eat quite a lot of it and others barley touch it.