How to make a homemade feeder? And, is whole corn good to feed?

[21hens-incharge]

I have oyster shell for them. Yes, I will feed the whole corn in moderation. Becky (The youtube channel person) gives her hens 1 cup of whole corn in the morning and one if the evening. I think she as about 11 hens.

Oyster shell is different than granite grit.

The grit is actual granite in small enough bits they can eat it. It stays in the gizzard and helps grind the food for further digestion.

Oyster shell is a calcium source to aid in keeping shells strong.

Feed stores also carry grit.

That is a LOT of corn for just 11 birds.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Ok, thank you. I will buy grit then. But will oyster shell do for now?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ok, thank you. I will buy grit then. But will oyster shell do for now?

It is a totally different thing all together.

Do your birds have access to the ground?
Until their area is depleated of usable stones they can find some.

I would buy a bag so you KNOW they have it available. It is pretty cheap.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

They have access for ground, but it's probably frozen right now. I'll get grit asap. I thought someones said that oyster shell serves as grit, BTW...

 

[21hens-incharge]

They have access for ground, but it's probably frozen right now. I'll get grit asap. I thought someones said that oyster shell serves as grit, BTW...

They may have said that.....whoever they are.

In reality it might help a tiny bit but it is definitely not the same.

 

[aart]

Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

I also regularly offer digestive granite grit in the appropriate size, throw it out on the ground with the scratch. http://www.jupefeeds-sa.com/documents/GraniteGrit.pdf.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Oh and.....

Do not mix treats, scratch, corn or other stuff like oyster shell or grit into the layer feed.

Scratch is just that SCRATCH it is used here as a way to keep penned birds active by spreading it over a wide space. It encourages ... well ... scratching.

I like to mix scratch, other seeds, and worms into their feed, kind of like lucky charms. It's still 90% layer feed, but it gets them a lot more excited about it. They free range and otherwise seem not that interested. Is there a problem with mixing other than that it wastes the scratchiness of the scratch?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I like to mix scratch, other seeds, and worms into their feed, kind of like lucky charms. It's still 90% layer feed, but it gets them a lot more excited about it. They free range and otherwise seem not that interested. Is there a problem with mixing other than that it wastes the scratchiness of the scratch?

Yes.
Many birds will seek out the tasty bits (lucky charms marshmallows) and bill out (waste by throwing on the ground) the nutritious bits.


Several years ago I took in 6 young pullets. They were around 11 months old. They had been fed 80% corn to 20% layer feed. Their health had been damaged by that.
Four of them died by age 2 and the other 2 barely got 3 years old.
Proper nutrition is very important.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Yes.
Many birds will seek out the tasty bits (lucky charms marshmallows) and bill out (waste by throwing on the ground) the nutritious bits.


Several years ago I took in 6 young pullets. They were around 11 months old. They had been fed 80% corn to 20% layer feed. Their health had been damaged by that.
Four of them died by age 2 and the other 2 barely got 3 years old.
Proper nutrition is very important.

That sound terrible! I'm sorry . Mine seem healthy but I get concerned about their food intake. It's hard to control free-rangers diets'. I'm against providing unlimited access to treats, and I don't believe in providing even more corn (since there's already so much in most feeds, and from I've heard, it's not very nutritious). But if I have their 'healthy' food always available, and they choose not to eat it, I'm not sure what to do about that, other than to try to entice them. My bucket feeder makes so they'd have to eat their way through the feed to the next layer of treats, so that helps.

Do you have any other recommendations for tempting them to eat more boring feed?

My oldest is 3, so I haven't had a chance to see long term health outcomes yet; I don't know how much to worry about this.

 

[jolenesdad]

I like to give treats... and so does my toddler. But really, they can cause total havoc for egg layers, I was getting a lot of soft shells.

So I just got more chickens so we could keep giving out the same amount of treats, and it made less of an impact on their diet.

feeding is a science and not really guesswork or generalizations, and you would really be throwing off the ratios of what they need by filling them up on corn.