I cant believe they feed them garbage or nothing at all????

[Prareedawn]

ok we have 7 pullets who are 5 months old now. 3 Rhode island reds and 4 ISA browns. We feed them a mixture of pellets and cracked corn and also oyster shells. I am AMAZED by the things people tell us. Like since they free range all day we dont need to feed them anything. REALLY???? I thought that was crazy because they always eat all the food we give them even though they are constantly picking all over the yard. And then Saturday we were talking to someone saying we are expecting them to start laying any time now and he says Oh chickens dont lay eggs in the winter. Um yeah they do. Ours don't he says. And we started telling him about the ISAs and how much they will lay so we make sure to give them high protein food and all that. And he says oh we just give them garbage. They love coffee grounds and those are full of protein. REALLY? and he goes on about how the grounds are good for their shells. Um yeah so are oyster shells. LOL thats what we give ours. I dont pretend to know much about chickens as Im learning as we go but at the same time I dont offer up advice either. Im wondering if he knows nothing and thats why hes not getting eggs. We had a friend tell us that chickens only lay for a year. He argued with me about it. HE ended up butchering all his before they were 2 After he left my boyfriend said he kept like 12 in a 6 by 6 ft kennel and never let them out. HE fed them hardly anything. I just cant imagine expecting my sweet girls to live on garbage. Or live in a teeny tiny space. It makes me sad.

 

[JanetS]

Sounds like animal services needs to be called about this man. Poor chickens!

 

[greenmimama]

So basically battery caged hens have it better than his hens do, of course they aren't laying, that is sad.

 

[Prareedawn]

Well those were two different people. The guy who feeds garbage lives in Ohio. I dont know him we just talked to him at a party at a mutual friends. And the guy with the hens in the small kennel ended up butchering his I guess This was a few years ago.I think mostly he realized they were alot of work. I dont get how someone can raise these birds form babies and not give a crap about them. I worry all the time that they are happy warm full content. I dont care that they are "just a bird". I committed to raise them and to me that means to make sure that they are happy and healthy. I hate people sometimes

 

[Chris09]

ok we have 7 pullets who are 5 months old now. 3 Rhode island reds and 4 ISA browns. We feed them a mixture of pellets and cracked corn and also oyster shells. I am AMAZED by the things people tell us. Like since they free range all day we dont need to feed them anything. REALLY???? I thought that was crazy because they always eat all the food we give them even though they are constantly picking all over the yard. And then Saturday we were talking to someone saying we are expecting them to start laying any time now and he says Oh chickens dont lay eggs in the winter. Um yeah they do. Ours don't he says. And we started telling him about the ISAs and how much they will lay so we make sure to give them high protein food and all that. And he says oh we just give them garbage. They love coffee grounds and those are full of protein. REALLY? and he goes on about how the grounds are good for their shells. Um yeah so are oyster shells. LOL thats what we give ours. I dont pretend to know much about chickens as Im learning as we go but at the same time I dont offer up advice either. Im wondering if he knows nothing and thats why hes not getting eggs. We had a friend tell us that chickens only lay for a year. He argued with me about it. HE ended up butchering all his before they were 2 After he left my boyfriend said he kept like 12 in a 6 by 6 ft kennel and never let them out. HE fed them hardly anything. I just cant imagine expecting my sweet girls to live on garbage. Or live in a teeny tiny space. It makes me sad.

Sound like the guy that you were talking to needs to learn how to feed chickens.

As a note;
Quote: If you have real ISA's they don't need High Protein feed, In fact you could be doing more harm than good if you are feeding much over 18% protein.
Here is the feeding chart that is for ISA and put out by ISA
http://www.isapoultry.com/Products/...ment guide commercials ISA brown nieuw 1.ashx

Chris

 

[Prareedawn]

We are pretty sure they are real ISAs. Their pellets are 16% protein which is what we were told was good for them

 

[Going Quackers]

Honestly, this sounds like basic neglect which sadly is found in all types of animal keeping. I don't get it, if people do not want to do it properly, then why bother to own animals.

 

[Imp]

Sometimes you just gotta take a deep breath and move on.
I think the reason there is so much misinformation about chickens out there is that they are not worth much financially, and they are so common. Despite the fact that they may be the most researched animal on the planet.
Just last night I was talking to a friend, who is getting back into chickens. His neighbors told him that you do not need a rooster to get fertile eggs and hatch them.
I was telling him that I had just read, on a popular forum, that the dirtier the coop the healthier the chickens.

Imp-

It's really hard for some people to move away from long held beliefs.

 

[Chris09]

We are pretty sure they are real ISAs. Their pellets are 16% protein which is what we were told was good for them

16% is low compared to a high protein feed. When you said you were feeding a, "High Protein Feed" I was thinking 20+ protein.

Chris

 

[Prareedawn]

16% is low compared to a high protein feed. When you said you were feeding a, "High Protein Feed" I was thinking 20+ protein.

Chris

I guess I was saying higher protein then coffee grounds lol.