picky little things...

[wjallen05]

My hens are obsessed with scratch/corn. If I give them only pellets and no corn, they sit there and YELL at me until I give them some.

Crazy things!

 

[BeckyLa]

imho, it's time to stop feeding corn, at least until they settle down and eat their feed. It has the nutrition they need. Too much corn will cause laying problems.

 

[wjallen05]

I give them one scoop of laying pellets and 1/2 scoop of scratch once a day. They eat it all.

 

[shabbyfarm]

What kind of laying problems will corn cause?? I was not aware that corn was a problem, but 23 pullets - 4 eggs a day, maybe need to quit feeding corn in the morning.

 

[wjallen05]

yes, what kind of laying problems will it cause?

 

[BeckyLa]

Well, I didn't say corn causes problems, TOO MUCH corn causes problems. When someone plans to butcher a hog or steer or something, it's common to feed mostly corn for the last few weeks before butchering because the corn will cause the animal to fatten up, giving better flavor to the meat. In much the same way, giving too much corn to chickens will also cause them to fatten. But with laying hens the fat constricts the laying tubes causing them to become egg bound or even internal layers. Either condition can kill the hen. I feed some corn to my hens if the weather is really cold, but not much. I also feed black oil sunflower seed which helps with egg bound. But mostly I just give them their regular feed with other things, like leftovers, veggies, corn, and scratch grains as the occasional treat. Sorry if I caused confusion

 

[wjallen05]

Is scratch grains and corn two totally different things? I don't buy corn, I buy the chicken scratch.

 

[BeckyLa]

Scratch grains has some cracked corn in it, but not a lot. You can also buy bags of cracked corn, which is what I was talking about. Feeding corn straight, it's very easy to over feed. But scratch grains don't have that much corn.

 

[wjallen05]

whew! I was getting SO worried because I am running low on laying pellets so I just gave the girls one big scoop of scratch grains this morning... I was starting to panic!

Soo... is it worth it/okay to feed scratch grains? How much should I give them?

 

[RW19290]

Quote:
A friend of mine's told me that she used to feed her chickens too much scratch. Well, they had roosters and the eggs never hatched!! Weird!! When she asked the vet, he said it was because of the corn...