Scraps, too much meat?

[raingarden]

I'd say you have some lucky chickens.

In Latin America the lack of tryptophane and lysine in corn is countered by adding beans to the human diet. Subsistence- and homestead-types might be interested in the Three Sisters companion planting technique.

 

[saysfaa]

I have to say, I see "the 10% rule" on here probably 10 times a day, and I have plenty of issues with it...but I can't recall anyone actually saying what 10% would actually mean, from a volume perspective.

I guess in a commercial setup, they'd know exactly how much a chicken is consuming. In most backyard setups, though, where chickens can move around, likely have free-choice food in a shared container, and likely have access to grass, dirt, compost piles, flying and crawling snacks of all shapes and sizes...what any given chicken eats in any given day is anyone's guess.

As I understand it grass, dirt, compost piles, and flying and crawling snacks of all kinds are not counted as either feed or treats in figuring the 10%. It is a way to give perspective to people who don't realize how little each chicken can eat in a day.

The benefits of fresh food, exercise, outdoors, and the ability to choose from a variety of foods offsets the risk of imbalance in the diet.

And, you are right, they do not each eat the same proportions. In my flock, Spice gets by far the most of any treats, Mocha gets such small chance at them that she doesn't know how to eat most of them even when she gets a chance without competition, the others range between. This whether I feed them in cups, in their feed dish, by hand, or scattered across their bedding.

 

[Folly's place]

And that 10% guideline is only that, as mentioned, and would be by weight, not volume. High egg producing hens are fragile metabolically, because that high egg production takes so much effort, using so much of the hen's physical resources.
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

And that 10% guideline is only that, as mentioned, and would be by weight, not volume. High egg producing hens are fragile metabolically, because that high egg production takes so much effort, using so much of the hen's physical resources.
Mary

See, I’m not confident that if you asked 100 people here independently if “the 10% rule” was related to volume, weight, or caloric content, you’d get a majority saying “weight”.

Maybe I’m wrong….but my confidence level is low.

And then if you asked the same 100 people. “10% of what?”, meaning “how much does a chicken eat in a day?” You’d get even less clarity.

So, the 10% rule just means “the easiest way to ensure balanced nutrition is to limit treats and feed a commercial ration” - which I don’t disagree with.

I guess I’m just rebelling against the “artificial precision” of the 10% thing.

 

[Folly's place]

And I agree! Except that it's hard to explain almost every other way. And yes, how about calories? That's even harder to define, given that the needs of different birds vary so much, given different sized birds, and growth, and egg laying status, all that.
Mary

 

[saysfaa]

I don't think it matters whether it is by weight or by volume or by caloric content. It might if all treats were of similar composition and only one kind of treat is given and you are actually trying to get the maximum performance out of your birds.

For most people who like to give treats, any of those measures will get treats down to a proportion that will probably ding performance a bit compared to an optimal diet but probably won't compromise health very much.

It also isn't 10% as in 10.00000000% each day or each time giving a treat. There is lots of margin below 10%, and a little above it over time.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

It also isn't 10% as in 10.00000000% each day or each time giving a treat. There is lots of margin below 10%, and a little above it over time.

I still think saying 10% when the denominator is unknown is a bit less than ideal, but agree on the above.

If your flock ate 20% of their diet in non-commercial feed (I’m loathe to call it “treats”) one day, and 0% the next, the average is 10%.

Diet/nutrition isn’t a point in time or a constant, it’s an average.