⠀ Needing advice on feed!

[SizzleQueen]

Hello fellow flock. I need help on what to be feeding my chickens.. now my chickens get plenty of scraps and nothing with citrus. But im curious to what kind of food chickens can have.. i was told by a coworker who's mother own chickens that you can feed them anything besides stuff with citrus and spice.
But her nor her mother have actually done research and i am not taking a chance of losing my beloved flock with false info! ( her mother lost all her chickens last year do to some "illness" & they ended up shooting them all. No thanks.)

Also, i read somewhere you shouldn't give your chicken alot of corn and i just recently purchased a "all organic feed" my chickens LOVE but it does contain quite a few shreds of corn.

 

[matt44644]

Corn is not bad,as long as it part of a complete feed.Feeding just corn by itself is not good.

 

[SizzleQueen]

Corn is not bad,as long as it part of a complete feed.Feeding just corn by itself is not good.

Thank you! I was worried because so far this feed has been their absolute favorite. As far as scraps go.. can they actually have anything besides citrus and spice?

 

[matt44644]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/treats-for-chickens
A good article on feed ingredients
http://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102993.pdf

 

[matt44644]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

 

[SizzleQueen]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/treats-for-chickens
A good article on feed ingredients
 http://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102993.pdf

THANK YOU. )) !

 

[matt44644]

 

[ChristieB]

For many many years chooks were raised on scraps and grains, it didn't kill them.
We know more about balanced diets now so scraps shouldn't make up a full diet of course but they will eat anything you give them, they are scavengers in the wild. Avacado is toxic but otherwise anything else is fine, they rarely eat something bad for them , I'm sure my mum used to through all our citrus peel in the scrap bucket with the rest but I have no idea it the chooks ate anything of the remaining fruit (obviously they didn't eat the peel itself)

 

[pdirt]

If egg production isn't a high priority to you, you could feed them just about anything you wanted, as long as they got some protein. Agreed, corn is a good ingredient in a complete feed, but not so much just by itself. Imagine if you ate nothing but corn?

If you do want the most eggs you can get from your chickens, feed them a complete feed...either a layer feed or a grower or starter feed (with crushed oyster shells on the side for the grower or starter).

If you want to feed them lots of low protein kitchen scraps and leftovers, feed them grower or starter with the oyster shells on the side. If you feed layer feed AND lots of low protein treats, it's easy to dilute their daily protein needs, which can affect their health and may make them lay fewer eggs or even stop altogether.

 

[SizzleQueen]

I buy a all organic feed for my chickens.. It has corn, and it looks like a bunch of different seeds mixed in with it. They have oyster shells they can get whenever they want, and I have mealworm treats I give them too.. about two handfuls a day split between 11 chickens right now. Along with scraps from the kitchen.