Protein Power

[bockbock2008]

My husban brought home 52 one gallon jugs of a protein power. It is supposed to be for humans to make shakes out of or add to drinks. It is just past its expiration date so cannot be sold for humans so it was given to him. I feed a layer crumble and then table scraps and when its colder, whole corn. Does anybody know if this would hurt or help anything? I gave them a scoop per day for about 3 days on their scraps(bread, fruit etc.) and they seemed to like it but during that three day period i found 1 egg that looked as if it had been pecked open. so i stopped giving them the powder. Any thoughts

 

[brooster]

your giving them protein powder? It doesnt sound safe to me. You tring to get them to fly or sumptin?

 

[crazyhen]

Too much of anything is not good for us or our birds. Too much protein is not good for the kidneys, of bird or man. Feed a good wholesome feed and some snacks. The other stuff is not needed. Jean

 

[brooster]

if you are feed ing a complete feed, thats all they need other than grit and oyster shell.

 

[bockbock2008]

ok. I guess we'll just dump it all out. He just brought it home for reusing the containers mainly but I thought i'd ask

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Have you read the ingredients list on the powder? I wouldn't feed it if there's anything unusual there or that chickens shouldn't have.

If you're giving them corn and scraps that are all carbohydrates, like bread and fruit are, a little added protein would help balance that. Adding all of that has already unbalanced their diet a little. You'd want the amount of protein to be balanced with the amount of carbohydrate you are adding, though. Too much protein is bad, just like too much carbohydrate is bad.

I don't know how much would be appropriate to give them, compared to the other foods you are feeding. If it was me, I'd look up the corn and other foods to get a basic idea of how many grams of carbs I was feeding, then look at the label for the protein powder. I'd shoot for percentages in the range of what their chicken feed is.

It's a lot harder to just eyeball it, when you're trying to balance a fresh food, with a concentrated powder. If you were combining fruit or bread with hamburger, for example, they'd have similar moisture contents and volumes, so it would be a little easier to guess at it.