Scratch and Peck Feeds

[Chickassan]

I don't know if it is "better" but iv'e got much less waste with scratch and peck than crumbles. Since it is pricey iv'e been doing a 50/50 mix it seems to be working. Chickens are still spry and poops are still firm, quite happy with it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The problem with minimally processed feeds like Scratch and Peck is as @rosemarythyme mentions, that chickens (some more than others) will bill it out and pick through it for their favourite bits, usually the high carbohydrate grains and sometimes leave the less attractive pulses which are higher in protein for rodents or lower ranking birds to clean up and often the fines which contain minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids are lost/wasted in the process. I'm not totally convinced that even fermenting it will ensure a balanced diet because the components swell in size when they are fermented and should therefore make it easier to pick out their favourite bits but assuming that @rosemarythyme has been using the product in such a way for many years without encountering health issues or sudden deaths in their flock, then I can only defer to his/her experience.

I've only had chickens for a little over 2 years now so bear in mind that I'm not claiming to have long term evidence that this feed is "better" than others. But my birds do enjoy it so I don't mind making the extra effort to ensure they get the maximum benefit out of it. I also don't feed Scratch & Peck exclusively, it's about 50% of my birds' diet and given in the morning, as I find it easier to leave out crumble or pellets in a gravity feeder for the remainder of the day.

I will say that if fed dry, my birds waste anywhere from 10-15% of the S&P feed, both by leaving unwanted pieces and fines in the feeder, and by throwing more of the same on the ground. But as fermented feed, the waste is vastly reduced, about 1-2%, which is simply whatever they can't quite scrape up from the bottom and sides of the bowl. Pieces that they were intentionally being skipped over before are getting eaten. There's almost no waste on the run floor, even though they're messy while eating this they'll actually pick it up any bits that land on the ground and eat those as well.

 

[Kat C]

Best way to avoid birds leaving some of their feed uneaten is to feed less. Do you give a kid a plate so full of food that they can pick out the parts of the meal they like best and leave the rest. No, you give them a mix of foods but just enough for one meal. If they want to have a full tummy they have to eat all of it. So if any of your feed, scratch, crumbles, pellets is not getting eaten then they have full crops on the other stuff and can ignore the rest. We have the almost all of the few pellets in our whole grain feed left over because I am not the only one feeding the chickens (but they clean up the morning feed which I give out in moderation. )

 

[rebrascora]

The likelihood is that most people feed chickens ad lib in gravity feeders though and even fed as you do, there is the potential for more dominant birds to get more of the favoured bits and leave the lower pecking order birds to clean up the rest.
I'm curious to know if there are any instructions on the Scratch and Peck bag or other similar brands which recommend how best to feed it or warn against feeding ad lib in a gravity feeder?

 

[Kiki]

The likelihood is that most people feed chickens ad lib in gravity feeders though and even fed as you do, there is the potential for more dominant birds to get more of the favoured bits and leave the lower pecking order birds to clean up the rest.
I'm curious to know if there are any instructions on the Scratch and Peck bag or other similar brands which recommend how best to feed it or warn against feeding ad lib in a gravity feeder?

https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/naturally-free-layer/

 

[Kat C]

The likelihood is that most people feed chickens ad lib in gravity feeders though and even fed as you do, there is the potential for more dominant birds to get more of the favoured bits and leave the lower pecking order birds to clean up the rest.
I'm curious to know if there are any instructions on the Scratch and Peck bag or other similar brands which recommend how best to feed it or warn against feeding ad lib in a gravity feeder?

"It’s scratch feed if you feed it by scattering it on the ground " http://www.plamondon.com/wp/scratch-feed-chickens/
Throwing whole grain out on the ground is how you feed scratch grains Because it won't dissolve like crumbles or pellets you can just throw it out over a large enough area to make sure every bird has a good chance to get some. We currently have 70 plus chickens and chicks but have had as many as 150. We feed nothing but a grain scratch that has sunflower seeds in it and we add a little extra sunflower to boost protein. I have recently started fermenting about 1/2 their feed. For chicks I run the whole grain through the blender. Been doing this for years. Get lots of eggs. Raise healthy chicks. Have lots of healthy chickens. Lots of misinformation about feeding chickens out on the web. Proof is in the pudding. Scratch feed is just fine for chickens and IMO better than pellets or crumbles. You don't really know what all is in there. Probably lots of the info is propaganda by the feed companies that then gets repeated by people who have never tried anything different. Picture of one of this year's chicks raised on nothing but scratch

 

[Kiki]

"It’s scratch feed if you feed it by scattering it on the ground " http://www.plamondon.com/wp/scratch-feed-chickens/
Throwing whole grain out on the ground is how you feed scratch grains Because it won't dissolve like crumbles or pellets you can just throw it out over a large enough area to make sure every bird has a good chance to get some. We currently have 70 plus chickens and chicks but have had as many as 150. We feed nothing but a grain scratch that has sunflower seeds in it and we add a little extra sunflower to boost protein. I have recently started fermenting about 1/2 their feed. For chicks I run the whole grain through the blender. Been doing this for years. Get lots of eggs. Raise healthy chicks. Have lots of healthy chickens. Lots of misinformation about feeding chickens out on the web. Proof is in the pudding. Scratch feed is just fine for chickens and IMO better than pellets or crumbles. You don't really know what all is in there. Probably lots of the info is propaganda by the feed companies that then gets repeated by people who have never tried anything different. Picture of one of this year's chicks raised on nothing but scratchView attachment 1457086

OP is not talking about feeding scratch here. She is talking about the brand name Scratch n Peck. Completely different things.

 

[janiedoe]

The problem with minimally processed feeds like Scratch and Peck is as @rosemarythyme mentions, that chickens (some more than others) will bill it out and pick through it for their favourite bits, usually the high carbohydrate grains and sometimes leave the less attractive pulses which are higher in protein for rodents or lower ranking birds to clean up and often the fines which contain minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids are lost/wasted in the process. I'm not totally convinced that even fermenting it will ensure a balanced diet because the components swell in size when they are fermented and should therefore make it easier to pick out their favourite bits but assuming that @rosemarythyme has been using the product in such a way for many years without encountering health issues or sudden deaths in their flock, then I can only defer to his/her experience.

There are a number of posts here on BYC about birds that have died suddenly from Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome at 1+years old and it is strongly believed that such feeds, along with a genetic disposition, are responsible. Birds that are penned and therefore get limited exercise will also be more at risk with such a feed. Heavier birds like Orpingtons, Sussex, Brahmas etc will be more prone to Fatty liver Disease. The disease is common with pet birds too I am told like parrots that are kept caged and fed a mixed seed diet. The build up of fat in the abdomen can also lead to laying problems like prolapse and salpingitis and internal laying, all of which can be fatal. It can almost equate to feeding your chickens scratch each day.

There is also much more waste with these type of feeds because the birds naturally want to rifle through it to find their favourite bits and they bill it out of the feeder to do so and scratch it around on the ground, as compared to a processed feed where it is homogenous and therefore no point in billing it out so they just eat it.

I appreciate why you might want to feed one of these feeds but be aware that they are expensive, there can be a quite a bit of waste because of the instinct to bill it out to find their favourite bits, they may attract rodents due to the spillage and they may actually be less healthy for your chickens than a more processed feed. You have to remember that a natural diet is fine for a wild bird, but chickens usually roam over a limited area and their bodies have been selectively bred to produce an unnatural number of eggs. These factors make dietary requirements really important. Like a top level athlete their bodies are working at optimum production but like children, if you give them a free choice they will often eat the goodies and not get a balanced diet and feeds like this allow that. I would certainly urge you to at least soak or ferment if you are using these feeds.

I encourage people to test my argument by placing some Scratch and Peck on a hard surface and watching which components they eat first and what is left when they are finished and then remember that this food billed out onto the ground under the feeder is not so easily visible or cleaned up. Spillage under the feeder can also grow mould in damp climates and that poses other health risks.

I'm not saying don't use these feeds (although I personally would not) but be aware of the risks/issues and balance that against your goals and ideals and monitor your chickens closely for any indication they are carrying too much fat. Feathers can hide a lot and many people are used to seeing supermarket chickens which are plump and do not realise that laying birds should not be like that.

I wish you luck with your flock whatever you decide.

I believe you should write an article on feeding a flock. Your response was very informative.

 

[Kat C]

https://www.scratchandpeck.com/product-category/organic-chicken-feed/grower/

https://www.scratchandpeck.com/product-category/organic-chicken-feed/chicks/

Looks to me like whole grains. That is what scratch is but before I started commenting I went to the site to insure that in fact the Scratch and Peck feed was whole grains. Different grains can be used but as far as I know scratch always refers to whole or cracked grains vs pellets or crumbles. And as far as I can see looking at the company web site that is what they sell.

 

[Kat C]

https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/contamination-and-animal-feed/ "Many of the ingredients used by the animal feed industry are materials not used for human consumption or are products remaining after processing materials for human food, known as co-products for animal feed. This includes materials such as bakery byproducts, dried distillers grains (from beverage and industrial ethanol production), soybean and cottonseed meals and hulls (from vegetable oil processing), molasses (from sugar production), and peanut skins.

There have been almost 500 recalls of animal foods from 2013 to the present. Of these recalls, 95 percent were pet products, primarily due to suspected Salmonella contamination or risk (89 percent). With the majority of pet foods fed within the home, microbial contamination is a major concern for the industry to ensure the safety of the pet owners. For livestock, such as cattle, poultry, and pigs, Salmonella contamination is not as worrisome of an issue, as the feeding environment and the feed processing do not pose a food safety risk for humans."

When I feed out our scratch grains I see exactly what my chickens are getting, and the condition of the feed. I was remembering back 20 some years when we started raising chickens. We had a number of hens die of fatty liver syndrome. After a while that stopped and I chalked it up to our cross breeding program creating healthier chickens. But I realized that perhaps it was when we switched from pellets to whole grain scratch that we stopped having that problem. We have used whole grains for about 17 years and have a very healthy flock, so the idea that pellets are better doesn't seem right to me.

Besides if they came up with a drink like Ensure that was a complete food for humans would you use it every day instead of cooking?

BTW we give our chickens lots of fresh greens every day. IMO you are not doing right by your chickens if they don't get greens from free ranging or as supplements. Our chickens are on 1/4 acre and done in all edible greens so I grow greens just for them in the garden and give them a hopper of cut grass most every day.