Official BYC Poll: Do you change your chicken feed in the fall to prepare for winter?

[Sequoia Raven Bird Farms]

I add stinging nettle seeds, Horsetail, dandelion, and lamb's quarters into their diets whenever they start molting.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I keep it the same year-round, but I do try to give them eggs for extra protein, the other day I scrambled some up and added herbs to boost their systems during molting season.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I give all flock in addition to their normal feed.

 

[skeeeter]

Hi,this is an interesting poll.
Our flocks free range every afternoon.
That said, their feed needs vary from day to day and yes, from season to season.
We don't get freezing days here, just frosts at night, so unless there is a drought, we have green grass all year long.
Although that's the case, individual fowl eat different quantities of feed each day, I suppose it depends on how many bugs they find each day.

One does have to say, when we are in a drought, their feed consumption increases dramatically... they seem to eat twice as much or more!
As the waste when feeding crumbles or mash is loathsome, (I feed everybody chick grower, btw (extra calcium on the side for the girls, if they desire it)) I am now feeding it wet. Toss out the little balls of (very moist) feed onto a fairly clean place in the yard. They look like cowsplats when they hit the ground. The fowl gobble them down, no waste.
The whole batch is always mixed up at once, for fowl and waterfowl. Then I feed the fowl first, in case they are hungrier than figured.
If the chickens have eaten more than calculated, more feed is added to what is left. It is then wetted up to a porridge and the ducks and geese are called into their respective areas, fed and shut in for the night.
Sometimes they get apropriate leftovers, overripe fruit & veg, meat trimmings not saved for the dog, veg peelings and scraped corncobs. Anything in season that we can't eat.
(Yes, I mean "inedible for humans".)

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I guess the bigger question for me is SHOULD I, rather than DO I. I'm not a chickenologist, so I'm not entirely sure if I should. I live in northeastern Tennessee, which doesn't get (and stay) brutally cold and snowy, but it does get cold overnight (sometimes around zero degrees Fahrenheit).

on super cold day it couldnt hurt to offer a little extra protein. maybe cracked corn, oatmeal, scrambled egg, or meal worms. aww! I dont think TN is cold for chickens. (some breeds maybe). Imm in CT and my chickens seem to enjoy the cold or at least not bothered by it. if the hens are super cold, I will supplement feed, they will be standing around like statues when too cold

 

[BDutch]

If all hens stop laying in Autumn, I stop giving layer feed because it has too much calcium. Usually I mix layer feed with chick feed or I let them choose, because my chickens don’t lay as much as laying hybrids.

They get extra mealworms in winter, bc then they can’t find much insects in the garden.

 

[Folly's place]

Mine get Flock Raiser all year with oyster shell on the side. They can free range most days, depending on predator visits, and snow/ ice cover in winter (they hate snow!). In winter or cold weather generally they will eat more, and frozen ground offers little in grazing opportunities or bugs and worms.
Right now most of our hens are molting, so not a lot of eggs, but then they will do better, and look less scruffy.
Mary

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I keep them on All flock 20% and sprout barely 1-2x a week in winter, more for extra hydration and a boredom buster.

 

[K0k0shka]

I don't change anything. I'm in Boston so we have cold winters, but my chickens do just fine. I feed them a 20% protein all flock type of feed year round, with crushed eggshell on the side (both available free choice), so they have all their needs met regardless of time of year, age or gender of the chicken, etc. - everybody eats the same, and they can regulate how much they need in both feed and calcium (shells). The only things I change in preparation for winter, is to switch them to their heated water bowl, and to install clear polycarbonate panels along the fencing of their run (this is one of the windiest places in the country and it gets brutal in the winter, even if there's no snow, so the chickens really appreciate the wind blocks - they allow them to stay outside all day).

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I keep them on All flock 20% and sprout barely 1-2x a week in winter, more for extra hydration and a boredom buster.

oh yea! I do sprouts in the winter. wheat grass. ‍