is it okay?

[redroosta]

we have about 10 chickens and 4 ducks and we feed them corn in the morning and at night. they are free range chickens and every day we feed them leftovers of a salad or peelings of food. they eat insects, grubs, lizards, mice and grass while on the 2 acre yard. is this a good diet for them?.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Even though they are free ranging I would still give them free choice of layer pellets to eat. It gives them the calcium they need to lay strong eggs.

 

[redroosta]

I think they get plenty of calcium from ALL THE EGGS THEY EAT! we haven't been getting eggs because they learned how to crack them open. they eat the shell and all. we have 10 hens but usually end up with about 2 or 3 eggs at the end of the day.

 

[hatchaholic]

The only corn we give ours in the summer is in scratch, and we limit that during the summer. From what I've read, corn raises their body temps, and it is plenty hot enough in SC without adding anything else. LOL! Ours free-range, too, but we still leave out laying crumbles. They are VERY healthy birds.

 

[NYREDS]

This wyth just won't go away will it?
Chickens, like humans & other warm blooded creatures, have biological mechanisms that controll body temperature. You don't over heat in the summer if you eat corn & neither will your chickens.

 

[chseeads]

They might be eating their eggs because of a lack of calcium.


I can't say that for sure, but it's possible.

You might offer them some oyster shells or something.

 

[AK Michelle]

Try feeding them some mashed boiled eggs with the shells mashed up on the side. They might be short on protein and/or calcium. Once they get their nutrition balanced out they should quit eating eggs.

Good Luck,
Michelle

 

[NYREDS]

Once they've started eating eggs it's hard to stop them-not as simple as adjusting their diet I'm afraid.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

If I was only getting 2 or 3 eggs a day, I would be hard put to share them ! We need more than that to make a breakfast for all of us around here.

Do your chickens lay in any particular area? You might try gathering up the eggs more often and keeping a few 'fake eggs' in the nest to discourage the egg-eating. It is tough though, once a chicken has developed the habit.

We have a 'coop' in the back of our barn and nestboxes in there, so a good number of our hens use that, but we always find other nests of eggs throughout the barn from our freeranging chickens.

We throw about half/half corn/layer to our free range chickens/ducks. Corn does not effect body temperature.

 

[Judy]

About the only thing that usually works on egg eaters is rollaway nests.

And, yes, they need layer feed. Corn should be an occasional treat only.