Looks like I may have found a system for reliably meeting protein (and other key nutritents) needs even as energy requirments increase with dipping temperatures and increasing wind speeds. I have been using a feeder filled with consistent amount of high quality grower and then broadcast a known amount of scratch some distance away from feeder. Still working out particulars but each bird seems to require a set amount of protein per day once in maintenance mode. It is the energy component of intake that I can play with. I bump up and down the scratch feed rate such that not all of feed from feeder is consumed. Now that snow cover is regular, the high protein feed is targeted first but the birds like to look about for alternatives which is dominated by scratch. If scratch amount comes up short, birds range further. Enough scratch is scattered to ensure with modest ranging energy requirments always met. Trying to keep birds from ranging from cover patches provides guide as to how much scratch is needed.
