One of my egg customers told my DH

[Chickenmaven]

Quote:
My 40+ chickens can take care of a bag of grass every other day or so. The clippings will get slimy & remain uneaten if there are too many/too often. DH got a little huffy when I asked him to slow down on the clippings...

You can also feed pulled weeds from the garden. We had a million sprouted sunflower plants this spring. Those were used as feed, also.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
I think the more variety they get makes a difference, but if you can't free range on open pastureland with a woodlot, all you can do is the best you can. Grass clippings can be a good option. There are some concerns though.

What kind of chemicals do the grass clippings have on them? Any insecticides or herbicides?

What length are the grass clippings? When chickens eat grass in the field, they tear off small chunks of it. If you feed them clippings, they eat the entire clipping since they can't tear it. Long clippings can get caught in their craw. I've seen reports on here where chickens have died from this. I specifically remember Opa, one of the experienced posters on here, describing how he had to milk the long grass clippings back out of the craw of one of his chickens. I have not done it myself, but I've read that if you use a mulching lawn mower the clippings will be short enough. I've also read that if they are less than 2" they are OK.

Instead of grass clippings, I feed them a lot of stuff from the garden. They like leaves of any of the greens such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, bak choi, or spinach. I split squash, zucchini and cucumbers that have gotten too big. They eat the seeds and pulp, leaving only the rind. They get the corn cobs to clean after I cut the corn off. Japanese beetles from the garden and orchard are another of their favorites.

Here is the treats chart that tells you good treats for chickens. Toward the bottom of this it tells you what not to feed chickens, like raw or undercooked beans or green potato peelings.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

 

[lovemychix]

I've been told mine too are better than other "fresh" eggs. I think it's the diet. They get a lot of different treats. Mine too free range afternoon to evening. I like being known as the lady with the "golden" eggs.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. Those eggs may not be from free ranged birds. Our Farmers Market/co-op sells eggs too but I think they are eggs produced in facilities. Each time the corner market down our road gets the eggs they are in cartons printed for that so called farm as "natural". The market gets 50 carton/doz MOL every week. That’s 600 eggs and that's just the market down the road and they have another market they buy the eggs for closer to town and I'm sure many other markets get the same eggs. That is not a backyard flock in my book. They are brown eggs but look and taste like eggs you buy at the store.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I think I worded my post wrong. Mine have access to locally milled layer pellets in their coop and are locked in at night for their safety. They spend very little time in the coop though. During the day they are in the woods, in the garden, in the orchard in the yard; basically anywhere they take a notion to be. We don't use chemicals of any kind on this farm.
I told DH to tell the customer that I will be getting more chickens in the spring, so hopefully by this time next year he won't be forced to buy eggs at the co-op.

 

[Gwen]

For those of you who free range, do you just accept the occasional loss from overhead predators? Or are you in areas where that isn't an issue?

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Yes

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
My area has coyotes, fox, fisher cats, hawks, and other predators. I just accept I may have losses from time to time. Thankfully, I haven't yet.
Hawks do fly over my property frequently, they nest in the woods in back of our property. They know the chickens are here, and I respect them for what they are. They have left my birds alone. There is MUCH easier prey for them to catch than my birds.
My birds have lots of cover for them to hide in, and they seem to know when the most dangerous part of the day is. Most of the time you can't even see my chickens because they are hiding in the bushes, or free ranging in the pines.
I did take into account that I may have losses when I bought my chicks, and ordered a little extra.

Bluemoon

 

[backdoorchicken]

Quote:
I think the more variety they get makes a difference, but if you can't free range on open pastureland with a woodlot, all you can do is the best you can. Grass clippings can be a good option. There are some concerns though.

What kind of chemicals do the grass clippings have on them? Any insecticides or herbicides?

What length are the grass clippings? When chickens eat grass in the field, they tear off small chunks of it. If you feed them clippings, they eat the entire clipping since they can't tear it. Long clippings can get caught in their craw. I've seen reports on here where chickens have died from this. I specifically remember Opa, one of the experienced posters on here, describing how he had to milk the long grass clippings back out of the craw of one of his chickens. I have not done it myself, but I've read that if you use a mulching lawn mower the clippings will be short enough. I've also read that if they are less than 2" they are OK.

Instead of grass clippings, I feed them a lot of stuff from the garden. They like leaves of any of the greens such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, bak choi, or spinach. I split squash, zucchini and cucumbers that have gotten too big. They eat the seeds and pulp, leaving only the rind. They get the corn cobs to clean after I cut the corn off. Japanese beetles from the garden and orchard are another of their favorites.

Here is the treats chart that tells you good treats for chickens. Toward the bottom of this it tells you what not to feed chickens, like raw or undercooked beans or green potato peelings.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

our grass is not treated on our property and i can always make a pass with the mower to get a few clippings. i do feed them treats every day. brocc, c-flower, watermelon, mealworms, crickets just to name a few.

 

[wombat]

I agree, it's the feed.

We feed a mix of layer feed and garden "left overs", plenty of treats, and our birds are usually out free ranging all afternoon. Summer eggs are better than "winter eggs" when they get less variety.