Need to increase Protine intake

[HHandbasket]

We have REAL serious worms in our soil here, so I go out once a day with a shovel and turn over a shovelful or two of soil & the girls dive in head-first and eat all the worms, baby beetles, etc., anything that may be lurking in the soil. I like to do this because the girls love it, but I have two other main reasons--A) It's free treats; and B) it's free treats.

All I have to do is pick up the shovel and they know what it means and will stop whatever they are doing & come running. Seems to be working okay--the girls are nice & healthy and are great egg-layers!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Mine ate Lizzards Mice the occasional baby snake anything that scurried across their beedy little cross hairs. I once saw two light Brhamas playing tug of war with a mouse that was as big as their head. When one lost her grip on the tail the other ran off quickly gulping the hapless critter like a sword swollower.

Like otheres have said Chickens are Omnivores. Here in the desert there are lots of little critters. The only thing I do is keep my feed in galvanized cans. The plastic cans succumb to some sort of chewing critter that goes up from the ground and eats through the bottom of the can. I suspect its some sort of desert rat. We have kagaroo rats here.... Soo cute. Pack rats too I have one living in my pump house.

 

[Judy]

You can buy canned mackerel near the tuna, good size can for maybe $1.50, or buy fresh chicken backs or whatever meat is cheapest, fresh pigs feet are pretty cheap here. BOSS is a bit higher in protein than most feeds,

This is copied from the bottom of the BYC treats chart:

* Regarding feeding CAT FOOD to chickens,



the following is from DLHunicorn in response to the listing of cat food in this Treats Chart: (A word to the wise, and thank you, DLHunicorn)



"You all know how I feel on cat food and I have posted the links and reasoning behind my objections several times ...it can potentially be detrimental to your birds health and even deadly in the right circumstances and for this reason I feel it should be left off the chart (as when you put it on it is as if you are condoning its use) I will repost here one of the sources for my objection:
http://www.omri.org/Amino_acids_livestock.html
..."While it is nutritionally essential, methionine excesses are far more toxic to poultry than similar excesses of tryptophan, lysine, and threonine (National Research Council, 1994). Force feeding methionine to excess can result in death to chicks (National Research Council, 1994). A dosage of 2 g / mature cat / day (20 to 30 g / kg dry diet) for 20 days induces anorexia, ataxia, cyanosis, methemoglobinemia and Heinz body formation resulting in hemolytic anemia (Maede, 1985). ..."