Other options than scratch?

[Fishinmatt]

I have 6 backyard hens and they're all 1 year old... I feed them a 15% organic layer feed, but I like to give them a scoop of scratch in the mornings as a treat and to quiet them down lol... my problem is that it seems like they don't like the cracked corn in the scratch and they eat everything else! Are there other options of scratch without the cracked corn? Could I give them bird seed instead? I don't want to keep wasting money on this type of scratch with the corn since they don't eat that!

 

[Battlepants]

If it's solely for a treat, I would suggest Black Soldier Fly Larvae or food scraps left over from the humans (apple cores are always fun).

 

[LizzzyJo]

I have 6 backyard hens and they're all 1 year old... I feed them a 15% organic layer feed, but I like to give them a scoop of scratch in the mornings as a treat and to quiet them down lol... my problem is that it seems like they don't like the cracked corn in the scratch and they eat everything else! Are there other options of scratch without the cracked corn? Could I give them bird seed instead? I don't want to keep wasting money on this type of scratch with the corn since they don't eat that!

You can do black oil sunflower seeds

 

[Fishinmatt]

If it's solely for a treat, I would suggest Black Soldier Fly Larvae or food scraps left over from the humans (apple cores are always fun).

Yea I do those too... just looking for an additional treat like scratch but without the cracked corn... Thanks!

 

[MadGardener]

15th % protein is below what your gals require in a feed. 16% is generally agreed upon as minimum for commercial laying hens up to 18 most of age. Scratch will offer very little in protein.

I like to toss greens to my girls. Right now bittercress and chickweed are coming back, so I toss them any weeds I pull. Later in the year I'll trim down comfrey, yarrow, and whatever tasty leftovers or waste comes from the garden. I use scratch and sunflower seed mostly to encourage scratching in a specific area...once a week or so. I'll offer scrambled egg whenever I need to use up older eggs.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Do you feed table scraps and fridge culls? I'd just stick with that. The feed is what I'd consider low protein and wouldn't supplement less with scratch. Other than a stale half loaf of bread, which I'd feed over course of days, most leftovers will have decent protein content. My suggestion is that be your only "treat".

Edit- You just posted you also treat with soldier fly larvae. You and they couldn't do better than sticking with those free and renewable supplements. Of course garden culls is another if you have one.

 

[nuthatched]

15% protein feed is very low, try high protein treats to give them a boost like eggs, meat and cheese. chickens also love yogurt.
I used tractor supply wild bird seeds as scratch, since it's not mostly corn and there's better ptotein.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Where are you??? 15% protein, if not supplimented heavily with AAs as they do in the EU, is low protein for a US feed, which is further reduced by the scratch, likely only 8-9% protein.

Recommend giving up the scratch entire, just throw more feed at them. Most birds will scratch for feed like they will scratch for scratch, and at least you know its a complete diet.

You can give small amounts of kitchen scraps, too. Most veggie peels, egg shells, small fruits or veggies gone soft, etc. Try to keep the amount of stale bread, uneaten pasta, etc down.

As "treats" go, you have a very small flock. Bird seed contains lots of, well, seeds - which are generally ok to decent in protein but typically quite high in fat. While more protein is good, more fat is bad - and generally, the more fat is much more bad than the more protein is good. Same with BSFL, Mealworms, etc. Look on the package for the nutrition label. Some of the dried varieties can be in the 25-40% protein range, but also up to 35-45% fat. SO giving just 10% of the daily diet as those concentrated nutrition sources can essentially double their daily fat intake!

Of the two, I'd choose the bird seed over the worms/BSFL, not only because its cheaper, but because its less nutritionally concentrated, so there is less risk of dietary imbalance long term, and its easier to portion control Of course, i choose neither - and simply throw feed to my birds as scraps, which remains the best option (in my view).

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

How big is your scoop? I think you are substantially diluting the nutrition from the already borderline 15% Layer Feed.

 

[Coops Dad]

Stop by your local farmers market or produce stand and see if they have any fruits or veggies that have become unsellable. I scored 6 canteloupes for $2 that had "gone soft" (and smelled a little fermented, lol) that my chickens went bonkers over. I just threw them hard enought on the ground to bust open and the hens left only the hardest parts of the rinds.

I also gather jack o lanterns and pumpkins from neighbors after halloween. Those usually end up as a lonely stem laying in an orange-tinted debris field.