Protein Content

[Dead Rabbit]

If you fed nothing but a 18% layer and nothing else, you would do just fine. They would be healthy, and produce very well. Scratch is mostly garbage and empty calories. I don't even waste time using it.

Me personally, when running a layer flock, I prefer a 15-16% layer ration. But then I feed a quality grain free dog food. Few times a week. This jumps the protein way up plus it gives the fowl a good animal protein amongst other things.

I've tried other methods through the years. Simpler and much more complex. But for a general layer flock keeping it simple is the best route

 

[Sutremaine]

[a post about calcium]

That makes sense.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Funny how again people claim scratch is empty calories or junk! It's the same stuff that your chicken feed is made of & can be so much more if you choose the seeds & grains etc. It does not have the vitamins & minerals added like feed & doesn't usually have as high of protein. It is not "junk" however.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, Cindy, you get that a lot. I think corn is the component that gets trashed the most. You get different values depending on which corn it is and which stage it is in (milk through dried). As RonP said, most of the stuff stated on this thread is opinion so I’ll put this in to show some of those nutritional values. The protein content of corn is lower than most other grains but it is certainly not void. And nutrition is not just protein. People often get tunnel vision about that. According to this video from Auburn the egg yolk is about 1/3 fat. There is a good reason corn is a major part of a lot of animal feed. You might enjoy this video, I learned some stuff from it.

How an egg is made utube

Nutrition Facts Corn, white

Amount Per 100 grams

Calories 606

% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8 g 12%
Saturated fat 1.1 g 5%
Polyunsaturated fat 3.6 g
Monounsaturated fat 2.1 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 58 mg 2%
Potassium 476 mg 13%
Total Carbohydrate 123 g 41%

Protein 16 g 32%

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 1% Iron 25%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 50%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 52%

 

[Beekissed]

Funny how again people claim scratch is empty calories or junk! It's the same stuff that your chicken feed is made of & can be so much more if you choose the seeds & grains etc. It does not have the vitamins & minerals added like feed & doesn't usually have as high of protein. It is not "junk" however.

I agree. Feed grain is feed grain, whether whole or ground into your feed. The basis of most feed out there is the lowly corn grain, so either it's junk feed they are feeding or corn isn't exactly junk or some useless filler. Corn~and those other "junk" grains~ has been used for thousands of years to fatten livestock, so it must have some merit.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Exactly.

There is enough corn in the layer ration. Why add more to the overall diet? Corn is good for carb loading. A typical layer Fock does not need carb loading. I'm all for feeding whole grains. Like I said, I've delved into very complex feeding regimes. If one wants to feed whole grains, there are better grains out there to use. Or beans ir peas etc. folks get hung up on corn because that's all they have ever known or that's what's the books or sites recommend. Corn is high calories which easily turns to fat. Ever butcher a fat laying hen?

Why feed scratch which a typical scratch is just cracked corn and wheat, when you get that and so much more in a layer pellet or crumble? Take that money and add $4 to it and get a bag of layer ration......or bump up your game some and spend another extra $30 and get a bag of pigeon conditioner which is loaded with millet, grains, peas, beans, better corn options, etc. ........but it's not necessary to do so for a layer Fock. They will do just fine and flourish with a good quality layer or breeder ration around 16-18%

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Yes, Cindy, you get that a lot. I think corn is the component that gets trashed the most. You get different values depending on which corn it is and which stage it is in (milk through dried). As RonP said, most of the stuff stated on this thread is opinion so I’ll put this in to show some of those nutritional values. The protein content of corn is lower than most other grains but it is certainly not void. And nutrition is not just protein. People often get tunnel vision about that. According to this video from Auburn the egg yolk is about 1/3 fat. There is a good reason corn is a major part of a lot of animal feed. You might enjoy this video, I learned some stuff from it.

How an egg is made utube

Nutrition Facts Corn, white

Amount Per 100 grams

Calories 606

% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8 g 12%
Saturated fat 1.1 g 5%
Polyunsaturated fat 3.6 g
Monounsaturated fat 2.1 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 58 mg 2%
Potassium 476 mg 13%
Total Carbohydrate 123 g 41%

Protein 16 g 32%

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 1% Iron 25%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 50%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 52%

Sir the main reason corn is used so heavily in animal feeds and now human foods is because it's cheap. Easy to produce,. Readily available. And easy to "transform" into other ingenious products.
There is value to corn. Whole dent corn, or even more so other types of corn. But it's over fed. Mainly because of the above stated reason

 

[MeepBeep]

If one wants to feed whole grains, there are better grains out there to use.

Yep, I mix in whole oats on occasion to my normal 24/7 commercial feed ration, locally they are the same price as corn in 50lb bags, and don't nearly dilute the protein levels since oats are 16-17% on their own... Also my chickens have a 24/7 option to pick at a tub of spent beer grains (about 30% protein) in the coop from a local brewery and I don't pay for them at all... Nothing wrong with corn in general as part of their diet as it does have some values, but it's far from anywhere near a balanced diet...

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Yep, I mix in whole oats on occasion to my normal 24/7 commercial feed ration, locally they are the same price as corn in 50lb bags, and don't nearly dilute the protein levels since oats are 16-17% on their own... Also my chickens have a 24/7 option to pick at a tub of spent beer grains (about 30% protein) in the coop from a local brewery and I don't pay for them at all... Nothing wrong with corn in general as part of their diet as it does have some values, but it's far from anywhere near a balanced diet...

I know oat protein varies according to location, but I've never known them to be near that high in protein. Even when fermented I never knew them to jump that high.
I was quite a fan of whole oats for fowl but I would soak them for a couple days before feeding. It helped with the digestion of the hulls and the fowl seemed to prefer them soaked. And when fermented they ate oats like candy

I liked soaking their pellets too. They preferred that too

 

[MeepBeep]

I know oat protein varies according to location, but I've never known them to be near that high in protein.

Don't know where you are getting your values...

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5708/2

1 cup = 156g serving contains 26.4g protein = 16.9% protein

https://authoritynutrition.com/foods/oats/

Oats, raw 100g serving contains 16.9g protein = 16.9% protein

Or my go to reference database for just about any food...

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search

20038 Oats, 100g serving contains 16.89g = 16.89% protein

Even when fermented I never knew them to jump that high.

When you add water to ferment the protein percent (and all other nutritional levels) drop like a rock due to the added water content, you need to adjust the protein level back to a dry content level (like commercial feed) for a 1:1 comparison...

For example if you take 1 lb of 16% chicken feed and add 1 lb of water to ferment the overall protein content is now only 8% for that mash until fermentation drives it up a little, you then would need to dry it out and remove the water if you want to compare the fermented feed protein content back to the original dry feed content...