Molting, what to feed

[getaclue]

I use Purina Flock Raiser crumbles exclusively. During molt, my hens hit their free choice calcium on a fairly steady basis. They rarely touch it, if ever, at any other time. Another thing I give during molt, is some form of animal protein. While protein may be protein, I find they do much better when they get some additional animal protein. I actually learned to give the animal protein from a few old timers. Does it improve feather quality? Yes, it does.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Our 9 hens are all molting (no eggs for 5 days so far... ) so I bought some black oil sunfolwer seed - just wondering how much we should be adding that to their food. (I have no idea what 20% protein would look like, combining that with their reg. layer feed.) A couple cups a day? More? Less?
TIA

Piggy backing what @aart said above, but adding numbers.

Feed is measured by dry WEIGHT, not volume. 1/4# of dry crumble takes less space than 1/4# of mini pellet, pellet, wet mash (1/4# dry weight) or fermented mash (1/4# dry weight). Volume is useful for scooping once you know the density of that particular feed, but then you are simply using it as an analog for weight.

While there is considerable variation, BOSS is about 45% fat, 16% protein, and an awful lot of fiber. A typical feed recommendation for adult birds is 16-20% protein, 3.5% fat +/- and 3.5% fiber. Adding 10% (by weight) BOSS to a common feed has negligible effect on the total average proteins (and may in fact reduce it!), likely doubles the fat content (associated with increased incidence of fatty liver hemhorragic disease and other maladies) and adds fiber which while much less concerning than fat levels, is not particularly beneficial to poultry.

Moreover, the amino acid content of BOSS is not heavily weighted towards Met (see my post above), its proteins are about 0.35% Met, same as any decent off the shelf feed, and lower than many. Threonine levels are acceptable - around 0.6% - the target for many feed recommendations (though it doesn't appear on Feed labels, so who would know), but is significantly lower than most other seeds and basically all the legumes, pulses and beans.

It is good for increasing the feed budget, and for entertainment. Otherwise, I don't recommend.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I use Purina Flock Raiser crumbles exclusively. During molt, my hens hit their free choice calcium on a fairly steady basis. They rarely touch it, if ever, at any other time. Another thing I give during molt, is some form of animal protein. While protein may be protein, I find they do much better when they get some additional animal protein. I actually learned to give the animal protein from a few old timers. Does it improve feather quality? Yes, it does.

For poultry nutritional purposes, "protein isn't protein" and hasn't been for about 40 years - though the EU (and to lesser extent, China, India, and parts of the MidEast) are much closer to the cutting edge of amino acid research in the formulation of animal feeds than we in the US are. A big difference between the typical animal protein and a plant protein?

Methionine. The number one most critical limiting amino acid. Lysine and Threonine levels, pound per pound, also much higher than the best of the plant proteins (legumes/pulses) for those measures, as well. Lysine, of course, is the number two most critical limiting amino acid.

 

[Sally PB]

My birds are molting now too. And eating a LOT less of their regular feed, which is 20% flock maker from Kalmbach.* The bowl that is "always empty" at the end of the day is still 2/3 full. They haven't been eating all their mash snack (the 20% fm, wetted into a mash), which is not normal at all.

Today I took a 6 oz can of salmon and made mash snack with that. And they ate it all.

How often should I give them a can of fish to go with their mash? I'm thinking more of the salmon, some tuna, and anything else that I can get with no added salt.

*I checked the label to see: 1.10 Lysine, 0.55 Methionine.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My birds are molting now too. And eating a LOT less of their regular feed, which is 20% flock maker from Kalmbach.* The bowl that is "always empty" at the end of the day is still 2/3 full. They haven't been eating all their mash snack (the 20% fm, wetted into a mash), which is not normal at all.

Today I took a 6 oz can of salmon and made mash snack with that. And they ate it all.

How often should I give them a can of fish to go with their mash? I'm thinking more of the salmon, some tuna, and anything else that I can get with no added salt.

*I checked the label to see: 1.10 Lysine, 0.55 Methionine.

I could run some numbers, but Salmon and Tuna are both fatty fish, even if you can avoid extra salt added, they are saltwater species (at least most of their lives) and have moderately high levels of base line sodium content. I would treat it like a treat, 10% by weight, or less, daily.
At some point, Met content will reach a level where adding more won't make a difference. I don't know of any studies as to where that point is, but I suspect your Kalmbach (too pricy for my flock) is pretty close to the effective upper bound for non meaties in their first weeks of life. You might find offering unflavored gelatin is cheaper - gelatin, after all, is a degraded form of collagen, which has some similarities.

Gelatin definitely has desired levels of Glycine and Proline, but its much lacking in Cystine and Serine. I have no idea if it will help, but in theory, it covers half the bases, and will help identify what may be missing in promoting feather growth.

 

[getaclue]

I feed animal protein every 3 - 4 days. A big can of tuna, mackerel, salmon, between 5 hens.

 

[Sally PB]

I could run some numbers, but Salmon and Tuna are both fatty fish, even if you can avoid extra salt added, they are saltwater species (at least most of their lives) and have moderately high levels of base line sodium content. I would treat it like a treat, 10% by weight, or less, daily.
At some point, Met content will reach a level where adding more won't make a difference. I don't know of any studies as to where that point is, but I suspect your Kalmbach (too pricy for my flock) is pretty close to the effective upper bound for non meaties in their first weeks of life. You might find offering unflavored gelatin is cheaper - gelatin, after all, is a degraded form of collagen, which has some similarities.

Gelatin definitely has desired levels of Glycine and Proline, but its much lacking in Cystine and Serine. I have no idea if it will help, but in theory, it covers half the bases, and will help identify what may be missing in promoting feather growth.

Thank you! I hadn't even thought about gelatin. I still have a box of Knox envelopes from about 10 years ago.

I pay about 46 cents a pound for my feed, but for 7 chickens, it lasts me about a month. $23.11 a month for eggs?!? Uhhh, no. $23.11/month for an excellent compost ingredient, fresh eggs, and hanging out with my fascinating flock. Very much worth it, to me.

 

[Tonyroo]

I started using feather fixer by Nutrena to see if it helps ease them through there molt. They been reacting better to it than expected.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you! I hadn't even thought about gelatin. I still have a box of Knox envelopes from about 10 years ago.

I pay about 46 cents a pound for my feed, but for 7 chickens, it lasts me about a month. $23.11 a month for eggs?!? Uhhh, no. $23.11/month for an excellent compost ingredient, fresh eggs, and hanging out with my fascinating flock. Very much worth it, to me.

My last feed purchase (40 chickens, 2 ducks, 4 goats, 3 rabbits + 7 kits) was $172.11 and weighed 600#. Lasts me about a month.

I'm getting 8 eggs per day right now, and there are so many feathers in each dip in the pasture that it looks like a bunch of chickens and ducks exploded like feather pillows all over the property. Can not WAIT for molt to end. Last year a this time, I took 5 flats of "extra" eggs PLUS two flats of "extra" duck eggs to a bunch of friends to provide them breakfast one morning (around 120 campers). This year, I'm producing all of two flats a week, and can't meet demand.