Is mineral supplementation necessary in a pastured environment?

[LaurelC]

I have a flock of young chicks that will be moved out to pasture and be shifted around my farm when they're old enough. With most livestock on a forage-based system, supplemental minerals are provided. With the chickens eating less commercially prepared chicken feed and more bugs, grass, etc, should I worry about supplementing trace minerals and salt? I use a high-selenium content mineral premix for my sheep, as our area is naturally extremely selenium deficient, is there any value in offering this to the chickens as well?

 

[Debbie292d]

I would not feed chickens that as they can OD on not only the selenium but perhaps something else that's in there. Maximum selenium dose is 25mcg for poultry. It can be toxic in large quantities.

If you have them on regular layer feed they should be fine plus with all they get foraging. I have silkies that free range but even so I sometimes put Poultry Cell in a bucket of water for them as they are prone to vit. deficiencies.

Black oil sunflower seeds and scrambled eggs are both good sources of extra selenium in safe amounts if you feel it necessary.

 

[LaurelC]

Do chickens not self-regulate the way that ruminants do when it comes to minerals? Genuinely curious. My sheep check out the mineral feeder and will eat more or less mineral/salt mixture depending on the season, the part of the pasture they're on, or whether they're getting hay supplementarily. Minerals do not get mixed with food specifically to avoid them getting too much of anything.

And to confirm - my understanding is that something like layer feed is formulated with the expectation that it's all the birds will be consuming. When a large portion of their daily food intake is something other than this layer feed (that will be inherently deficient in something like selenium and various other minerals - as our pasture is deficient, thus the bugs they consume will be) is there not a concern that the birds will not be receiving the amount of trace minerals that they need? I suppose I could wait to see what liver values end up being from the local vet college when we process our roosters, but without mineral mixes, I'm not sure what I'd do with that information.

 

[Perris]

Yes chickens do self-regulate if given the chance and have options.

If your land is deficient in specific minerals, you could buy in foods rich in those minerals that were grown in areas where they are not deficient, and offer them to the chickens. And if the chickens get access to your other livestocks' manure, if they've been supplemented with the relevant minerals, the chickens may meet some of their needs via their waste.