Scratch feed: Is it just a waste of $$?

[Anny]

It's like candy. So yes it is a waste of money if you look at it like that. But people enjoy eating candy, chickens enjoy eating scratch. I think it is a personal choice to buy or not to buy it, since they don't NEED it.

hmm now I want some candy...

 

[FisherMOM]

I'm eatting candy now.

I used to feed my chickens ONLY scratch grain for the first 6 months that I had them. I didnt know any better. I was TOLD to feed them that. They were 4 months old when I got them.

Now.. it's just a treat. Even my ducks like it.

 

[Heather J]

Last year I got advice from a neighbor who raises chickens, geese and ducks and that's all he fed his group, so until I got back onto this site, that's what I was feeding my birds. No more. But I do throw out a handful or two to my water birds in the morning so they'll get out of my way when I tend to the chicken and fill their waterer, and occasionally I'll throw a handful or two in the late afternoon to get them out from underfoot. and I admit, they get a couple more small handfulls in the evening--which guarantees they'll go into their nighttime enclosure with no trouble.

I have 11 waterbirds, 7 adult chickens and 19 8wo baby chicks. I figure that I toss out somewhere between one and two cups a day for 37 birds. The chickens all get complete feeds from bedtime until late afternoon when we let them out to run, and the waterbirds free range all day. I have also fed them layer feed from time to time to supplement, and they get all of the weeds I pull from my garden.

They LOOOVE scratch, so it's a nice enticement, and by tossing out a couple hand fulls over a broad space, it takes them quite a while to eat it all--as I said, getting them out of my hair if I'm spending an extended period of time out in the pasture area with them, since my gander can be quite bossy and bite if he thinks I'm in the way. Oh, and it distracts them nicely when I go to give a complete feed to my Muscovy hen who is sitting on a clutch right now--otherwise the other birds steal it all from her.

 

[Hiedi]

Quote:
What I have learned: there are so many people that will give bad advice (especially at feed stores). I had a guy at one of the farm supply stores to tell me just feed my pullets scratch. At the time, they were only 10 weeks old. So I stopped asking for their advice.

 

[chickn]

i loaded my chicken run last yr with the raked leaves really thick, and they scratched at it all winter by spring you hardly new they had any leaves.

and on topic, we use scratch as an add to in the winter. we add it to the layer pellets and then in the evening we throw out a bit by hand

 

[scooter147]

I use it in the following ways:

1. To cut down on boredom, bored chickens are like bored kids they tend to get into trouble. Especially in the winter time when they are confined to the coop. They spend all day scracthing for what I throw in the shavings.

2. Use more in the winter to increase internal warmth.

3. I think it gives the yolk a brighter orange color.

4. Because they like it. I get ice cream every night so I think they should get a treat too.

Their main diet is layer pellets.

 

[orchidchick]

Here Scratch costs .30 cents a lb
I throw about a handful in my 6'x12' run a day. I never have to rake out my run, and never see any chicken poop; the girls do the work! I figure that's pretty darn cheap labor! I used to have to rake and level it out several times a week before I started doing that.
The funny thing is, they don't seem to care for it that much, until I leave. Then they go to work.
Grapes, on the other hand.... not cost effective! That's their candy.
Orchidchick

 

[jmc]

Thank you all for your replies!

Yes, I can see scratch's utility moreso in winter, as I hinted at in my original post--as a means of exercise, perhaps, more than nutrition. But as far as the warm months go (I'm in MA, mind you) maybe bunches of leaf litter, grass clippings, hay (if you can get) scattered about can give them huge entertainment and excercise and nutrition as well. At least mine are having a ball in the carpet of organic 'litter' I've laid for them.

They'll poop it up nice and when it's time for me to switch their run to the other side of the coop for fresh pasture I can rake up all that poop and litter and compost it. Without the organic litter, the poop just sticks to, or soaks into, the ground, and that great fertilizer is lost.

Also, it seems that the chickens scratching in the litter it will make their digestive processes move more quickly, since their getting exercise: they'll poop more, and we get even more fertilizer!!!

Win Win!!

But I say AMEN to the "treats" aspect for chickens.

 

[Reinbeau]

What exactly is 'scratch'? I sift out the big sunflower seeds from my bird seed (the bigger chunks go right in the bird feeder) and toss them a handful of the siftings, mainly white millet and safflower with some sunflower meats and blackoil sunflower seeds in it. I've got it on hand to feed the regular birds, so it's easier to just do that. I've never purchased anything specifically labeled as 'scratch'.

The way I figure it it's a treat. They love it. They don't subsist on it by any means, a handful tossed for 15 birds isn't going to feed anyone for long!

 

[coffeelady3]

Quote:
Scratch is cracked corn.