Layer - 16 vs 20 percent

I feed a 20% protein feed because I'm giving so much "stuff" out of the kitchen or garden. This is something new for me this year as I usually switch to a 16% layer feed when they start to lay. But, I want to give the birds more low-protein foods and so far, egg production has stayed up.

Actually, it isn't that I "want" to give more low-protein food it is just that those are the sorts of things that are usually left over or surplus from the kitchen and garden.

I think I'm up to about 30% of their diet during this cold weather with food other than commercial feed. It is difficult to know for sure since volume and water content varies with this stuff.

What I make sure of is that each hen is eating 1/4 pound on average of commercial feed each day. Since I carry the feeder out of the coop before refilling, all this requires is that I set it on the scale beside the feed and then refill. I can adjust the amount of what I carry out of the kitchen for them easily that way.

Steve
 

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