Puppy food for chickens?

[Jen71]

Okay, I am the first in our group of friends/neighborhood/family to have chickens. Everyone is coming out of the woodwork with old wives tales, hints, tips, and ideas that they heard from their brothers best friends co-worker's uncle that used to have chickens. (you get the idea)

I'm getting ideas from everywhere and everyone. Luckily, I have been able to de-bunk or verify many of their suggestions by reading posts on this site. So, thank you all for that!

One idea I have not read about here, but have had three separate people tell me is to feed "puppy food" to my chickens. Not as a main meal, but to throw a cup full of puppy food into their run each day. Apparently, its fantastic for the chickens and makes the eggs taste great.

??

Has anyone heard this?

 

[Ariel301]

I don't know what it would do for taste of the eggs, but some people use cat or dog food as a protein supplement. I give my laying birds a handful of dry cat food every few days as a fun treat to forage around the run for, as well as an extra protein boost since I feed mostly kitchen scraps to my birds. Just check to be sure that the protein content is actually significant, because sometimes it is very low in cheap dog foods--cat food tends to be a better choice, since it is higher protein. You can also give them some canned dog or cat food on occasion, though that's kind of a pricey treat I think. Also, I try not to feed them a whole lot of dog/cat foods because they can contain quite a bit of salt, which is tasty to dogs and cats, but very unhealthy to birds, who cannot process it like mammals can.

 

[Jen71]

Thanks for your response.
I bet you're right - it's for the protein and not necessarily the taste of the eggs.
I wonder if dog and cat food have nutrition labels. I will check them out the next time I'm at the store.

Do you think this would only beneficial if I'm mainly feeding my chickens kitchen scraps? I mean, if they have a steady supply of high quality chicken crumbles/mash - then do they need a protein boost?
Or would this be mainly a treat that has the added bonus of being high in protein?

 

[Kiwibird]

It is mainly for a protein boost. However, there are cheaper ways to achieve this. If you can get lucerne chaff, it's high in protein even though its a plant product. You can soak it and add it to mash. The mash soaks up any residual liquid in the lucerne. Meat bird crumbles are higher in protein than layer rations, and can be added. Soaked or sprouted grain is higher in bio-available protein than dry grain. So it's a matter of what suits you really. Free range hens get their own extra protein from bugs they eat.

Most commercial layers rations probably do meet laying hens' needs, just as they claim to. However, hens which are moulting or undergoing any stress need more protein. Also, I understand that if you are breeding from your hens, you will have a higher hatch rate if your hens are on a higher protein diet.

BTW here is an Australian discussion on the subject of chook food, which includes a lot of ideas about boosting protein content. It's very looong though! http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7977929