my CHICKEN scratch or layer food

[ange]

My husband bought this new chicken food, organic, fresh home made, a good thing. AS WE Were talking , bu mistake, he told me he thinks scratch grains, is good, and we have been feeding them feeding them, then scratch, I THOUGHT it was layer food. I AM GOING to the feed store, today to get some real layer food. BUT i have tons of scratch now, so can i add it to the nir food with the layer, or just sprinkle it on ground som they can scrtch for it.

 

[jenjscott]

How much is tons? Scratch should be fed sparingly, usually scattered on the ground, and the chickens love to "scratch" for it. The laying pellets already have a minimum amount of protein, and the scratch has even less, so I am talking very small amounts.

 

[ange]

I WILL BE GOO9NG TO FEED STORE TODAY FOR Layer food. I FEEL BAD

 

[gumpsgirl]

Don't fret to much about it. There have been many a chicken that has survived on eating plain 'ole scratch.

Is it the best diet for them? Heaven's no, but you switching them now will be just fine. Go ahead and start feeding the layer food and then throw a handful of scratch to the girls in the morning. Don't blend the scratch in with the feed. It doesn't have hardly any nutritional value to it, so it wouldn't do any good to add it to their feed.

 

[nsanywhere]

Yup, they do need their layer food. I like it in crumble form. They still kick it everywhere, but I think we waste less than when I was feeding it as pellets.

I give my flock scratch as a treat. A little extra in the winter to add in some calories for the cold weather, less in the spring/summer (mostly just to keep them loving me I scatter the scratch all over the outdoor run so they really have to work for it.

Don't panic - a few days on scratch won't hurt your flock!

 

[Bullwinkle]

I'm not sure how much scratch you have, but I would just buy a higher protein level layer feed (maybe a 20% like nutrena has) and mix them so the scratch can be used up. If I'm mixing very much 'non-layer' feed, I always like to provide some calcium in a separate feeder so the hens can eat it as they need to.