Roosters need less protein, how to feed them?

[Savannae]

For my studies the extra calcium will harm their processing organs. But those studies didn’t show issues for a couple of years. There are several schools of thought. 1) give all feed with no calcium and just offer egg shells and oyster shells in separate container. 2) feed layer rations and worry about health issues down the line. 3) feed layer rations and get rid of the rooster . Jk
But even if you have 2 separate bowls one with layer rations and one without, there is nothing keeping him from eating the layer ration one.

Please I only have a rooster , my research is all about layers . Please , please what do i feed him to keep him healthy . He is caged too many hawks around . Thank you , I give a 5 grain scratch it says corn , wheat , Milo, black oil walnut serf and dried Boon worms it says protein us 12 percent and calcium is .24 percent . Is this okay . Please I appreciate your answer

 

[FrostRanger]

Please I only have a rooster , my research is all about layers . Please , please what do i feed him to keep him healthy . He is caged too many hawks around . Thank you , I give a 5 grain scratch it says corn , wheat , Milo, black oil walnut serf and dried Boon worms it says protein us 12 percent and calcium is .24 percent . Is this okay . Please I appreciate your answer

Cut out the scratch entirely and feed him an all flock. Scratch is basically candy for chickens. It's OK occasionally as a treat but it should be no more than 10% of his diet. All flock will provide him with everything he needs. I'd also get him a few hens, chickens are social creatures and they generally don't do well alone. When you get them they can all eat all flock, just have oyster shell on the side for the girls

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Please I only have a rooster , my research is all about layers . Please , please what do i feed him to keep him healthy . He is caged too many hawks around . Thank you , I give a 5 grain scratch it says corn , wheat , Milo, black oil walnut serf and dried Boon worms it says protein us 12 percent and calcium is .24 percent . Is this okay . Please I appreciate your answer

This thread is 5 years old. The poster you are responding too hasn't been seen in roughly 18 months and is wrong.

Well, right, but more wrong than right.

Most of us with mixed flocks tend to feed an "All Flock" formulation with free choice oyster shell in a seperate dish, so your girls can reach their desired calcium levels without force feeding your rooster calcium he doesn't need which is detrimental to his long term health.

Scratch is a touchy subject. You absolutely DO NOT need to feed scratch. Its a net negative to the overall diet. The positives it provides are A) extra energy B) entertainment (equally obtained by throwing their actual food around) C) the satisfaction that comes of treating one's birds. But in terms of diet - its unneeded and - to the extent it displaces their regular diet, potentially detrimental.

Of course, if you feed your birds a better diet than stritcly required, offering scratch (up to 10% of daily intake by weight) won't substantially impact your birds. If you feed a nutritionally minimal or sub par diet, adding scratch will consistently make it worse.

and as scratch goes. 12% CP is rather good. Most are closer to 9-10%.