PROTEIN!!!PROTEIN!!!PROTEIN!!! (Please)

[hallerlake]

Heck, I eat potato peels (cooked).





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I have always given them potato peels with out any problems, my grandparents always gave theirs potato peels also without any troubles.

 

[kuntrygirl]

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CREEP? What's that?

Creep sounds creepy.

 

[snowflake]

GREEN potato peal is bad. did you ever get a potato that looks green? that is poisonous. otherwise potato's and peals are OK

 

[keyt1969]

So, I am VERY confused. From what I read, it's best to feed JUST layer? Here's my issue and maybe this belongs on a totally different string....

I have very unreliable chickens. Out of at least 10 chickens old enough to be laying, we only get eggs from about 3. BUT, not very often. Some weeks we will get 9, some none! That's for the whole week. So, we read it's best to increase the protein. They get shredded cheese, hot dogs and cat food. Before we started feeding all of that, we weren't getting any eggs so maybe it's working a little. They also get a lot of veggies from the garden. But I'm confused, now people are saying not to give scratch? For daily feed, everyone gets a mixture of scratch and layer. Now this is bad?

HELP!!!

 

[annaraven]

I give mine layer feed in their feeder. A handful of scratch goes on the ground for a treat. From what I've heard, scratch is like candy, it's not really a balanced nutrition.

 

[lauriej57]

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Scratch is like candy to them, they love it. The problem is that they will fill up on the scratch, and not get all of the nutrients in the layer feed that they need.

I don't even buy scratch anymore. They get layer feed, some table scraps, and in the winter I'll buy a small bag of cracked corn, which I'll give a handful to them right before bed time if the temperature is in the teens and it's blowy outside. The fat in the corn helps them produce heat. That's about the only time I feed it to them.

 

[PunkinPeep]

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Think of it this way: if you are adding protein to their diet, but you're also adding scratch and veggie scraps, then you're diluting their protein intake.

The scratch i buy is 8% protein, so if i were feeding them equal portions of scratch and 20% protein layer feed (i'm just pulling this number out of the air), then i would have diluted their protein to 14% (8+20=28 28/2=14).

If i were you, i would take out all the scratch and limit the veggie scraps until they get regulated egg-wise. Maybe add some protein treats to the layer ration, but for now, no scratch and no veggie scraps.

If you don't see an improvement from that, i would look for other factors contributing to your lack of eggs - heat, worms, mites/lice, molting.....etc.

 

[digitS']

There may be some confusion between what is fed and what is being eaten.

If a chicken is "offered" a varied diet, she will probably do just as we would - eat what she wants until she takes in sufficient calories to not be hungry . . . then eat a little more

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Protein provides calories but it isn't usually as easy to metabolize as carbohydrates. The hen will likely just go for a quick hunger fix of something she finds tasty. Even out of the scratch mixture, she's likely to eat all of the corn first.

You can also think about what you are expecting from your chicken - eggs! Eggs are about 13% protein but they are also about 75% water. If you take that water out, eggs are almost 50% protein. And, not just any protein, egg protein! Good balanced stuff . . .

She doesn't need a super high-protein diet. A leghorn only needs about 17 grams of balanced protein each day and that egg only has about 7 grams of protein in it.

She will be eating about 130 grams of food each day. Still, if she is coming up short on necessary protein, your hen won't be making an egg.

Steve

This might be helpful: Nutrition for Backyard Chicken Flocks, Poultry Science at Auburn University

 

[hallerlake]

I've eaten those, too. I'm still here. Potato sprouts are poisonous. I don't eat them.


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[hallerlake]

I give the girls scratch to get them to go back into the run when I want them to, but I add BOSS and quinoa for extra protein. Quinoa has the most protein of any grain.