Scraps, too much meat?

[Poodlemum]

Our specific type of food allergies make leftovers a no go, but I’m really awful at determining quantity (kids don’t help lol). Is there a thing as too much meat? They fight over it For instance, last night we did hamburger, rice, and peas

 

[STACEYH]

If you mean for you and your kids? YES!
I had to educate a friend her child 7yrs. old has high cholesrerol.
https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/what-is-myplate
If you mean for chickens they should only get it as a treat no more then 10% of food given.

 

[saysfaa]

Meat is an exception to the 10% for treats thing. It is balanced protein so won't upset protein balances or lower protein percentage which are the main reasons for limiting treats. As long as doesn't have much salt added, it is ok up to at least 20% (based on rations in poultry textbooks from the early 1950's - before all the different kinds of nutrients were identified... 20% meat scraps was standard; the rest of the ration varied.)

But that is plain meat, not a mix of rice, peas, and meat.

 

[Folly's place]

And recommendations from the 1950's don't account for our high egg producing hens, so be careful what you take from such sources.
Low salt is important when looking at table scraps/ treats/ Meat is calcium deficient, and any egg laying chickens need oyster shell in a separate feeder out there, so the hens can take what they might need that's not in their diet.
As long as you feed limited quantities of stuff, it's fine.
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

If you feed fruit, veggie, and grain treats, a little meat treat would actually help bring overall nutrition back into balance, as protein is usually the first thing to get out of wack.

 

[Banana01]

Tryptophane and lysine are essential amino acids that come from meat. Corn and corn based pellets, which is what I feed my flock for example, is high in every essential amino acid except it is low in tryptophane and lysine. That is why corn is labeled a poor nutritional source, because it is lacking two essential amino acids. When you supplement meat, you have a balanced diet with corn because they are recieving every essential amino acid. Dont confuse calcium, that has to come from egg shells or oyster shells, or some other calcium supplement.

Soy is another food that contains lysine, so it is used as a feed supplement. Obviously meat is most expensive of any supplement. But I think meat eating chickens would taste better. So no way is there such a thing as too much meat, it is just too high cost for most people to supplement. It's not like you are feeding it every day, but my chickens get very hungry for outside sources of those two amino acids that their corn and soy diet doesnt provide them.

 

[Folly's place]

Actually, in the USA, complete chicken feeds are supplemented with those amino acids, which is less expensive than adding animal proteins to the feed here.
When making up an at home diet, as you are doing in Peru, it's totally true that meat needs to be added to the grains when fed.
And most 'layer diets' here are only 16% protein, which will be balanced, but it's a real minimum for most chickens, rather than a 20% protein diet, which is what many of us feed. More expensive, because the proteins are the most expensive part of the diet.
Happily, here we don't have to start from scratch, making a total diet for our birds.
Mary

 

[Brooks_]

Good points above. I'd not worry about the amount of low/unsalted, lean meat. Figuring it's leftover/scrap, not "hey, y'all want a rib roast?".

 

[saysfaa]

Good points above. I'd not worry about the amount of low/unsalted, lean meat. Figuring it's leftover/scrap, not "hey, y'all want a rib roast?".

Well, yes, but... 10% of the amount one adult chicken eats is about 1 tablespoon. So, even at greater percentages of the diet, it is smaller amounts than many people realize.

Of course, the more chickens in the flock, the easier it is to give reasonable amount from food prep and left overs.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Well, yes, but... 10% of the amount one adult chicken eats is about 1 tablespoon. So, even at greater percentages of the diet, it is smaller amounts than many people realize.

Of course, the more chickens in the flock, the easier it is to give reasonable amount from food prep and left overs.

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.