New member named FreeRangeSpirit

FreeRangeSpirit

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jul 15, 2013
64
3
43
Idaho, in my chicken pasture
Hey chicken people! I have 35 chickens that come when I whistle, and love them so much. They are free range pasture raised chickens. I have light brahmas, americanas, black giants, orpingtons, australorp, polish, barred rock, partridge rock, dark brahma, blue laced red wyandotte, and columbian wyandottes. I have a question though. Out of the 35, I only have 14 hens. I plan to butcher most of the roosters. I don't know if this is bad for them or not, but the only food I give them is scratch grains. I plan to put the hens on layer feed when they begin to lay in August. Any diet comments? Would it be bad for the roosters to get layer feed as well?
 
Howdy from Kansas, FreeRangeSpirit, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Pleased to have you aboard! If your roosters free range they are scrounging up some of their own protein in the form of bugs - the scratch isn't giving them much of that. They will likely get to processing weight later than they would if you were feeding them a grower feed. Good luck to you!
 
:welcome and good luck with your poultry adventure! :frow You need to start giving them other types of food. Scratch grain is only for a small portion of their diet. Depending on the age, I would give them chick start if their younger than 16 weeks and layer feed if they are older. Your roosters will have no problem eating layer feed, so no worries there. You have a lot of pretty breeds by the looks of it.

Read the paragraph closer, seen your chickens are not yet 16 weeks. I would get them chick starter.
 
Welcome to BYC. As others have already posted, grower feed will get your roosters to 'processing' weight much more quickly and will provide a carcass with better finish.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom