No difference between pasture raised chicken eggs and caged chicken eggs.

[WindingRoad]

We are getting off topic a bit, and getting riled to boot.

Really, What makes you think that. I have told people over and over and over MY CHICKENS WON'T EAT SLOP. And I suppose you don't think it was condescending to tell me my chickens won't be able to swallow calm shells when I never mentioned clam shells. What people need to do here is read for content before they jump.

 

[WindingRoad]

Except only if cereal was a formula specifically designed to provide complete nutrition throughout the entire life cycle of a productive creature.

Cereal for people is not.

Feed for chickens is.

Yes somebody gets it!!!!! BTW I haven't eaten cereal (except for oatmeal) in over a decade. Do we wonder why are kids are hyperactive. Keep feeding that sugar laced cereal.

 

[WindingRoad]

That's like saying "All my kid will eat is cereal, so why make them eat veggies? They're healthy and get all the nutrition they need?"

My kids (47 and 41) eat string beans, potatoes, canned carrots( yuk) for veggies. THAT'S IT. I don't know of any fruit they will eat. They take NO prescription meds nor any supplements. Blood pressure is good, labs are good, CBC, Lytes Bun Creatine, Cholesterol, Fractionals good, Blood sugar good. Youngest used to love broccoli but doesn't now. Healthy weighs. Oldest is pretty skinny. They do eat eggs every day. Not mine they live in MD.

 

[WindingRoad]

I get down on my hands and knees to to follow the chickens as they forage. I will follow them sometimes over several acres. The groups of chickens are small, as in never more than 20 (most immature), and often only a pair (cock and hen). The majority of the insects consumed are inconspicuous and herbivorous. Taxonomically, the insects are dominated in terms of number and biomass by grasshoppers / crickets, caterpillars of moths / butterflies, and larval diptera (especially crane flies). The latter groups also has a lot detritivores in the lineup. Occasionally termites and isopods (pill bugs) are consumed in mass. Pill bugs here have a lot in common with lobster when it comes to carotenoids. Trophically, this grouping differs markedly from farmed insects that fed largely on grain or grain byproducts. The diet does not impact protein (amino acid profile) or mineral profile, but it does impact fatty acid profile. Additionally, a big part of the dry mass of a given herbivorous insect is the plant material in the digestive tract.

This last summer we collected a couple hundred lbs of Japanese Beetles (see following links;https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/making-feed-from-japanese-beetles.1223688/#post-19604687 and https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...low-cost-bio-attractor.1258075/#post-20185033 and https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-to-pens-of-chickens.1256756/#post-20164846). The analysis of those beetles, which eat vegetative plant material as larvae and adults, differs markedly from grain fed meal worms. Hopefully I can get those results published shortly in a table form making comparisons easy.

When is comes to consumption of plant material, the chickens are not eating the equivalent of watery lettuce or sugar rich fruit. They are preferentially targeting meristems of actively growing plants, especially legumes. Meristems even targeted now as the birds dig through the snow for them and insects lying in torpor. Those actively growing meristems and young leaf times are more easily digested and have higher levels of protein and vitamins related to tissue growth and differentiation in the plant.

My chickens won't eat Japanese beetles They love grasshoppers I catch them in the summer for them. The eat earthworms, slugs, and some plant they like I don't know the name of it.

 

[123RedBeard]

I have a whole pile of oyster shells. The guy I bought this place from last spring is a clam digger. I

Really, <snip> I never mentioned clam shells. What people need to do here is read for content before they jump.

Well ... this genius (claimed by you!) Says you did mention clams ...

And shells are not usually considered "slop"

Hey, if your happy with what your doing ... why change, but ... don't think yours is the only way ... I was just looking for clarification on how you "tried" ...

 

[WindingRoad]

Well ... this genius (claimed by you!) Says you did mention clams ...

And shells are not usually considered "slop"

Hey, if your happy with what your doing ... why change, but ... don't think yours is the only way ... I was just looking for clarification on how you "tried" ...

I mentioned a clam digger. Go back and try again. I never said shells were considered slop. My birds will eat oyster shell because it isn't WET I think.

You weren't looking for clarification. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck here.

ETA: Where did I say my way is the correct way. Am I trying to get you to stop feeding wet food to your birds? Then stop trying to get me to feed and waste wet food to my birds.

 

[123RedBeard]

If you just want to argue ...

 

[WindingRoad]

If you just want to argue ...

Bring it on. I was on the debate team in high school and college. Along with the water polo team. That didn't last long. I don't particularly like drowning. LOL. Their is no debating in water polo. I did like the rifle team though.

BTW I add OS right to my feed I don't put it in a separate bowl. Where should I report for incarceration.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Sometimes the thing that ARE NOT present in the eggs, have more significant than the thing that are......

 

[WindingRoad]

So you tried ... if at first you
don't succeed ... try, try again!

Maybe try a different method ...

I highly doubt that a chicken will just go and gobble up a pile of clam shells ... no way to fit it down ... TRY smashing them up into 1/4" chunks with a hammer on concrete ... wear safety glasses/goggles ...

On your soft/mushy food experience ... did they also have other things to choose from to eat, or did they ONLY have mush? For how long?

TRY this ... a little wetted feed with treats on top, no other food available ... by day two they will learn.

Then TRY to add some cooked scrambled eggs to the wetted feed ... yummie they will say!

Please re-read post number 33. "a whole pile of oyster shells". "clam digger".