Just feeding chickens scratch feed & cracked corn.

[terrilhb]

I have a really dumb question. Is scratch the same as corn you buy and feed them? And what is BOSS? I am new to chickens. Only had them about 6 months. Just started them on layer

 

[bledsoe95]

Scratch has corn ,oats,& grains in it. Here where i live a 50lb. bag of scratch is only 7$ an the laying mash is 16$ pretty big diff. i also feed them catfood.

 

[jjthink]

Unfortunately a lot of feed stores to this day tell people that scratch is what they should buy to feed as the mainstay of their chickens diet. Shameful, considering it is only okay as a snack food. I wish all folks considering getting chickens or who already have them could somehow know to research well beyond their local feed store when determining how to best care for their birds. Until the average intelligence level in feed store staff goes WAY up, innocent lives are paying the price of bad information given to their guardians. And that price is malnutrition, or worse.

JJ

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Whoa!! Hold the phone. Hope that was a typo.

TSC, (Tractor Supply Company) and their competitors sell Purina, 50# for $13. and their own Purina-made, house label DuMOR for $12 a 50#.
Surely you get by such a place every 2 or 3 months, no? I'd stock up. I'd be broke paying 2 1/2 time more for layer feed than what it's worth.
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[bledsoe95]

Im going to get some laying feed tomorrow should i get pellets or crumbles?

 

[terrilhb]

We buy our feed from the Menonites. They have a feed store. Very honest and reasonable prices. They told us what to feed our chickens..

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Either one, but you will probably need several days of transition time. I prefer pellets, seems to be less waste. But some birds never adjust to pellets, so keep an eye on them as you start the transition.

 

[AKsmama]

Quote:
Eight bucks is a big difference for the health of your flock? Look, you asked if what you were feeding was ok, we are telling you no, it's not. Don't get me wrong- I am glad you are here, because someone somewhere is giving you horrible information about what to feed your chickens. If you are relying on feed store employees, well. . . just don't. Generally they have no idea what they are talking about. Cat food is meant as an occasional treat and protein boost, not as a mainstay in their diet. If all you're going to do is defend what you're doing- that's obviously not working well for you or your chickens- then why take the time to ask anyway? Maybe you'll correct their diet and they'll continue to eat their eggs. Then you have a whole different situation. First you need to reevaluate what your chickens are eating. You get what you pay for, and if all you're willing to pay is $7, then you're going to have ramifications. If you absolutely cannot afford anything more, then perhaps it is not the time for you to own chickens.

Good grief, if all I was getting to eat was crap, I'd eat all the eggs I could find and mustard filled ones too.

ETA: I see you're getting layer feed now. I'm glad. I think you'll see a dramatic improvement in your flock.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Fred's Hens :

Quote:
Whoa!! Hold the phone. Hope that was a typo.

TSC, (Tractor Supply Company) and their competitors sell Purina, 50# for $13. and their own Purina-made, house label DuMOR for $12 a 50#.
Surely you get by such a place every 2 or 3 months, no? I'd stock up. I'd be broke paying 2 1/2 time more for layer feed than what it's worth.
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I buy feed at Hall's feed store, in apopka. I live in the very left upper corner of Orlando, and this feed store is the closest one with the others being more than 15 miles. The place is family owned, with relatively good service, but I like how fresh their feed is right out of the bag. It smells like something you'd eat. It is pricey, and sometimes I'm surprised what other people pay for their feed. I work for the money though, and all of it goes to feed and other pet stuff. My dad won't drive any further. I can't remember if it was 25 pounds, or 50. I'll have to check, but I still think it's 25 pounds. One bag usually lasts 2-3 weeks, between 5 chickens and one duck.​

 

[LindenLiving]

Just feed my chickens left over split pea soup still warm from the stove. It is 15 degrees right now and I wanted to warm them up a bit for the night. They also eat chicken layer pellet and cracked corn, as much as they want during the day. If there is any left over at night I clean up the left overs and throw that on the ground in the morning and give them fresh food for the day. Seems to work well as they continue to lay between 3 - 4 eggs per day. My son has a bearded dragon that gets half a bag of lettuce each Thursday and I throw the rest to my "girls". I have also found that they are very fond of bird seed, particularly the sunflower seeds. Gives them a nice scratch food. I only give that to them every other day when they are out in the pen and look a bit bored. We have too much snow on the ground for them to free-range for anything worthwhile so I need to supplement greens and seed as much as possible to keep them healthy.