mixing store bought feeds

[justplainbatty]

Common average is 1.5 - 2 lbs per bird per week.At 2 lbs x 22 birds = 44 lbs per week / 7 days = 6 .29 lbs per day.
6 pound difference over seven days.Count for spillage ,extra eating etc.

ok I guess that is reasonable math. Although mice could still be helping, maybe?
Admittedly I rarely do anything "math like" except, "chicken math"!

 

[RichnSteph]

I mixed 50lbs of layer pellets, 50lbs of scratch and 50lbs of wild bird hoping that they'd get the protein they needed and some treats in the process. Nope. They toss all the pellets out looking for the goodies. After our egg production dropped to almost nothing I took a look at what my overall protein was and it was down near 12% with that mix. I ended up adding 50lbs of game bird crumble to it to bring the protein back up and we're getting eggs again thankfully. As others have said the scratch and BOSS is a treat and shouldn't be offered all the time. I have a 50lb bag of BOSS that I've had for weeks and it's still about 35lbs of seed and I throw out a handful or two for the birds (11 chickens and 1 duck) for them to scratch at and enjoy.

If you really want to cut down on your feed use and cost you should look into fermenting the feed. Trust me on this one in that fermented feed does wonders for the flock as far as the protein content and how much less they eat. I ferment enough to feed them twice a day on it with some dry thrown in for variety and they devour it. I only feed them what they can eat in about half an hour in the morning then free range them on the two acres around our home. In the evenings I feed them a little less with a a few handfuls of BOSS. They go to bed with full crops and sleep warm and happy.

Oh and put your oyster shell into a separate container for them to access when they want it.

 

[pdirt]

Scratch is generally corn and some other grain. I've been adding to my 20% broiler mash feed (but I have no broiler chickens), 12% corn, 18% wheat, 6% fish meal and 1% vitamin/mineral supplement. This lowers the protein slightly to 19%. Occasionally I've added in some BOSS, probably around 5%. What I've noticed is, yes, they do pick out the corn and BOSS first, but since my feeder is designed so they cannot bill the food out, they eat it all. I haven't had any issue with them just eating the "tasty bits" and passing on the rest. I go through about 30-35 pounds a week (about 1.5/lbs per bird per day). Before altering our treadle feeder so they can't waste the feed, we were going through 2-2.5lbs per day per bird. It makes a big difference over several months!

I don't know this for sure, but I do think they have been eating less since I started mixing in the fish meal. The broiler feed is vegetarian-based and I wanted some quality animal protein. I think they are perhaps getting more of what they need with the added fish meal and are not eating as much. Maybe someday I will try to test this out better to know for sure.

 

[Cindy in PA]

That's 7Lb's a day! How? I don't understand!

Somebody else must be helping your chickens eat that much food!

28 birds would eat 1/4-1/3 lb per bird per day. That's 7 lbs. a bird or more & it's winter so they eat more.

 

[Chris09]

I feed 17 chickens (1 is a bantam) 16% layer, a little cracked corn for heat and BOSS for extra protein. A 50Lb bag of the crumbles lasts just over 3 weeks. The 50Lb corn lasts about 6-7 weeks. The 40Lb BOSS lasts a long long time. I also feed a few handfuls of scratch a few times a week just for fun so it lasts a long time too. Since it's so cold here I splurged on a flock block, I think it weighed at least 10 pounds! It just sets next to one of the feeders and they are slowly pecking away but even that one block is going to last well into spring.
Anyway, yes, cut way back on the scratch because it lowers the amount of protein they are getting. They will be more satisfied with 90% layer and 10% whatever else you want to give. Also, it sounds like way too much shell. Put that in something like a no tip dog dish and refill as needed. Same thing for the grit.

So that you know, corn doesn't add heat to a bird, also BOSS adds very little proteins to a mix since it's only around 16% protein.

 

[Chris09]

If you really want to cut down on your feed use and cost you should look into fermenting the feed. Trust me on this one in that fermented feed does wonders for the flock as far as the protein content and how much less they eat. I ferment enough to feed them twice a day on it with some dry thrown in for variety and they devour it. I only feed them what they can eat in about half an hour in the morning then free range them on the two acres around our home. In the evenings I feed them a little less with a a few handfuls of BOSS. They go to bed with full crops and sleep warm and happy.

Oh and put your oyster shell into a separate container for them to access when they want it.

Fermenting feeds has pros and cons,
Yes to a point fermentation generally improves the dry matter and protein digestibility of the diet by 3-8% and feeding fermented grain could increase the production value by 11% (mainly do to the extra water intake).
But there are studies that show that there is a loss in synthetic lysine in the feed when feeding a fermented feed. Now this is a problem when you are feeding a vegetarian type feed since they use a synthetic lysine in there mix. Also some studies show some B vitamins are lost when you ferment a feed do to some yeasts feeding off the B vitamins, by fermenting the feed you are creating a imbalanced diet, your creating a imbalance in not only calcium and phosphorus but also protein and energy.

Lets look at the biggest selling hype of feeding a fermented feed, "less feed intake".
Well the less feed intake could be do to a vitamin decency since a sign of some B vitamin deficiencies is reduced feed intake. The lack of proper lysine in a diet can affect liver, muscles, feathers, etc.

 

[justplainbatty]

So that you know, corn doesn't add heat to a bird, also BOSS adds very little proteins to a mix since it's only around 16% protein.

Hi Chris09, would you please explain about the corn? I have read over and over about how it increases metabolic rate, gives extra energy and adds a bit of fat to the bird, helping it to endure brutal winters a little easier. Don't they even call it a "hot" feed as concerns other farm animals in summer? And after reading thousands of posts and threads on this and other sites and using also, several searches engines, I cannot find a satisfactory answer of proof that it does not work. I am so confused.

<-me reading for 6 hrs =

Help! Thank you!

 

[Chris09]

Hi Chris09, would you please explain about the corn? I have read over and over about how it increases metabolic rate, gives extra energy and adds a bit of fat to the bird, helping it to endure brutal winters a little easier. Don't they even call it a "hot" feed as concerns other farm animals in summer? And after reading thousands of posts and threads on this and other sites and using also, several searches engines, I cannot find a satisfactory answer of proof that it does not work. I am so confused.

<-me reading for 6 hrs =

Help! Thank you!

Lets see if this helps, here is a good quote that deals with horses BUT holds true with all animals.

Quote: This myth is often a result of people feeding on a volume basis and not by weight of the grain. When horse owners are asked how much grain they feed their horse, they answer by saying they feed so many quarts, scoops, coffee cans, etc. One quart of corn weighs approximately 1.7 pounds. One quart of oats weighs approximately 1.0 pound. If you are feeding 4 quarts of oats per feeding and gradually change over to 4 quarts of corn, the total intake of the horse per feeding changes from 4 pounds to 6.8 pounds. Not only is the horse receiving more energy from more total pounds consumed, but corn is higher in energy per pound than oats. Corn contains 1.6 megacalories of digestible energy per pound, whereas oats contain 1.36 megacalories of digestible energy per pound. The horse in the above example goes from consuming 10.9 megacalories per day (8 pounds x 1.36 Mcal D.E./lb.) to 21.8 megacalories per day (13.6 pounds x 1.6 Mcal D.E./lb). Therefore, many horse owners think that feeding corn to their horses makes them "hot," with "hot" meaning that the horse has more energy and may be a little energetic and unmanageable. Similar to feeding candy to a young child, the extra energy can make them hyperactive. Feeding corn does not make them hot in terms of body heat, but will in terms of increased activity. In fact, feeding oats to provide the same amount of digestible energy per day will generate more body heat because oats have a higher fiber content than corn. Fiber digestion generates more body heat. Therefore oats, not corn, will actually produce more body heat.

Now energy is not just energy.
Energy is broke down into three types and each type is to a point different.
There is a Digestible Energy (DE), a Net Energy Maintenance (NEm) and Net Energy Growth (NEg), DE is the amount of energy that is able to be digested by an animal, NEm is the energy used to say hold body weight and NEg is the energy used for growth by the animal.
Yellow Dent Corn has 1.78 Mega Calories per pound of feed (Mcal/lb) of DE, .98 Mcal/lb of NEm and .67 Mcal/lb of NEg.

If you want over heat a animal (chicken included) in the summer feed a lot of fibrous food like Oats, BOSS, Alfalfa Meal, etc. and or over feed proteins. One of the main causes of heat stroke in a animal in the hot summer is over feeding proteins.

 

[justplainbatty]

Lets see if this helps, here is a good quote that deals with horses BUT holds true with all animals.


Now energy is not just energy.
Energy is broke down into three types and each type is to a point different.
There is a Digestible Energy (DE), a Net Energy Maintenance (NEm) and Net Energy Growth (NEg), DE is the amount of energy that is able to be digested by an animal, NEm is the energy used to say hold body weight and NEg is the energy used for growth by the animal.
Yellow Dent Corn has 1.78 Mega Calories per pound of feed (Mcal/lb) of DE, .98 Mcal/lb of NEm and .67 Mcal/lb of NEg.

If you want over heat a animal (chicken included) in the summer feed a lot of fibrous food like Oats, BOSS, Alfalfa Meal, etc. and or over feed proteins. One of the main causes of heat stroke in a animal in the hot summer is over feeding proteins.

Thank you. Very informative. Maybe I'll give my chickens oats during the coldest days/nights. What kind do you recommend?

 

[matt44644]

Oats or Barley:
The primary purpose of oats and barley is to add fiber and to increase the bulk density of feed. The hull
makes up 20% of the weight of oats and barley. High fiber from small grains keeps the digestive track
clean and can also be used to limit feed intake. High-fiber small grains also add protein and energy,
although most of this added nutrition is burned off digesting the excess fiber. Oats and barley have an
inclusion limitation of 15% in any combination without added digestive enzymes. The result of excess
oats or barley is wet litter and poor digestive viscosity.

http://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102993.pdf