No eggs since September

[Sic]

This caught my eye, as I give my four hens huge amounts of grass clippings in the summer - with no drop in egg production, and they don't get any grass when it's dry, and the eggs keeping coming at the same rate. However, it made me wonder about protein content in grass, and from the first search I did just now, it claims that grass has between 16-28% protein, with variables, of course.

The percentage of crude protein in grass is based on dry matter, so grass clippings have a high moisture content and far lower crude protein percentage than that, as well grass has a high cellulose content that chickens cannot digest.

 

[McChooky]

Contained chickens eat what we feed them whereas free range chickens prefer to dig and scratch for bugs (they eat very little grass)

 

[McChooky]

I just vent checked all my hens and their vents were light colored and small except my buff Orpington who was always my best layer and mom who raised over half my flock and some of my friends flocks. But that leaves the question, where are my eggs going?

A picture or description of your set up and surroundings might help.
Stressed Chickens will lay less or maybe not at all.Lack of fresh clean water and dirty waterers can cause them to stop laying too. Neighbors children or dogs or predators could be harassing your flock. One lady here posted that her chickens quit laying after she added a trampoline beside the coop.Another lady said hers quit laying after she moved near a shooting range.

 

[Bodhisan]

The percentage of crude protein in grass is based on dry matter, so grass clippings have a high moisture content and far lower crude protein percentage than that, as well grass has a high cellulose content that chickens cannot digest.

I can't tell from what you're writing how much protein, then, do grass cuttings contain or how much a hen gets? That said, regardless, my main contribution - because this forum does exist for us all to provide our own experiences so that others might benefit from our experiments, is that my production blues and Eastereggers, whether they ate a ton of clippings or not, had the same egg output. You can't argue with what you see with your eyes. As for eating grass along with insects, anyone that's placed their hens in a protected/fenced area that was once part of a lawn knows that by the end of the summer, all the grass has been eaten. The ground is bare.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I wonder how many people have actually observed what the chickens are pecking at when they free range. And I wonder how they get huge amounts of protein after a killing frost and bugs are very scarce.

We are all entitled to our opinion and have our own experiences so believe as you will.

 

[LaFleche]

This caught my eye, as I give my four hens huge amounts of grass clippings in the summer - with no drop in egg production, and they don't get any grass when it's dry, and the eggs keeping coming at the same rate. However, it made me wonder about protein content in grass, and from the first search I did just now, it claims that grass has between 16-28% protein, with variables, of course.

From spring till autumn free ranging chickens will find all kinds of insects, worms, frogs, mice and other critters which chickens kept in their coop during winter will seldom find.

They are omnivores.

 

[Sic]

I can't tell from what you're writing how much protein, then, do grass cuttings contain or how much a hen gets? That said, regardless, my main contribution - because this forum does exist for us all to provide our own experiences so that others might benefit from our experiments, is that my production blues and Eastereggers, whether they ate a ton of clippings or not, had the same egg output. You can't argue with what you see with your eyes. As for eating grass along with insects, anyone that's placed their hens in a protected/fenced area that was once part of a lawn knows that by the end of the summer, all the grass has been eaten. The ground is bare.

So you want me to do the math for you? On average fresh grass has a moisture content of 75-80%. If you put 10 grams of fresh clippings in a microwave and dry it, you'll end up with the dm weight, let's just assume 75% moisture was removed, the dm would be 2.5 grams. Of that 2.5 grams, we can assume 16% is crude protein, that is .4 grams of crude protein in 10 grams of grass clippings/that is 4% cp overall, and something in the range of 30% crude fiber. While crude protein is commonly used to estimate protein content, amino acids are a better measure of protein quality. I don't know the amino acid profile of your lawn grass, but I think it's likely a poor quality of the necessary amino acids for chickens otherwise commercial feed producers would just pellet grass. There is a reason you don't see grass fed chicken in the market, chickens do not possess the enzymes to digest cellulose, with nutrients locked behind cellulose, chicken get very little benefit from grass. Leave the grass to the ruminants. Here in the forest we have moss covered ground, with bare spots wherever the chickens forage, they don't eat the moss, it's scratched out. Last year(edit: spring of '23) I planted a patch of Poa supina grass, the chickens occasionally eat it in the winter, (they prefer to eat the western hemlock needles) but it's very hardy grass, it's been run-over by the excavator and pecked and scatched by the chickens and it's still there. In Germany, the common name is Lägerrispe, which means, "where the cows lay". The name is a reflection of the ability of Poa supina to persist and even thrive on cattle trails, even in shaded woodland areas. If you want to continue to feed your chickens grass clippings, that's your prerogative, however, anything you add to their diet will have an affect on the overall crude protein and amino acid balance, crude fiber, crude fat, ME, etc. Do as you will with the advice you sought.

Just FYI: The studies that have been done on wild jungle fowl show that females eat far more vertebrates and invertebrates than do males, their reproductive system requires a higher level of animal protein.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Had a dream last night that one laid and fount this in the coop nesting box today

 

[LaFleche]

Had a dream last night that one laid and fount this in the coop nesting box todayView attachment 4081160

Congratulations!