Scratch on Cold Days

[cheeps]

I went out to throw some scratch in for my babies this morning, and DF swore up and down he read somewhere that you shouldn't feed chickens scratch grains on really cold days. Have you guys heard this?

I live in NC, it's cold, but probably not as cold as some of ya'll are!

 

[Teach97]

I never heard anything like that and can't think of why you wouldn't...scratch is mostly carbs...I'll be watching this one to see if there is a reason behind that

 

[Must Be Losing It]

I never heard that, and I must imagine it is much colder where I am up here in Massachusetts and I still put scratch out for them. The love it like candy and in addition to eating the scratch they eat the snow.

Now I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but my birds are in excellent health and quite happy w/ they snowy findings.

 

[cheeps]

Well, I told him he was crazy, but just wanted to be sure!

I can't get used to him taking interest in my chickens!

 

[NYREDS]

He's 180 out on this one. Cold days are when the birds can use a little extra carbs-helps keep them warm.

 

[chickie momma di]

AS FAR AS I'VE READ ON BYC WARM DAYS ARE WHEN YOU DON'T FEED SCRATCH BECAUSE IT RAISED THEIR BODY TEMP. ON COLD DAYS IT HELPS THEM TO KEEP THEIR BODY TEMP UP. I HAVE 2 BUFF ORPHS 1 MALE 1 FEMALE AND LIVE IN ATTLEBORO MA. I FEED SCRATCH AND BOSS ON COLD DAYS/NIGHTS AND THEY BOTH SEEM TO BE VERY HEALTHY.
GOOD LUCK

 

[Country Guy John]

I give my chickens scratch all year long. I also scatter som hay in their coop and then thorw the scratch on top of it and they really enjoy scratching for the grain. I beleive that is an old wives tale. I can recal growing up that our chickens would eat grain from the fields after we had harvested the wheat, corn, and soy beans.

 

[digitS']

Taking an interest in the chickens is a good thing, right?

Be patient with him, we all get ideas, think we've got things figured out, and then some information comes along that surprises us. Tell him that he will need to quote chapter and verse before you change hour mind, however

.

If he'd said that feeding them scratch in the morning was not a good idea, I'd have understood. Not really agreed but understood. Filling their crops with a high calorie feed in the afternoon helps them get thru the long, cold nights. Getting all those calories in the a.m. probably just makes them lazy

.

I gotta say that I feed them things like that in the afternoon. Partly, that's because I'm weighing their commercial feed. I want them to be eating enuf of that high-protein feed before they get their "treats."

Since they are eating so much these days, they always qualify for a little something extra

.

Steve

 

[setter4]

I have been making it a point to go out about an hour or so before dark and give them some scratch. Just a little something to hold them over till breakfast.

 

[namreknat]

I always give the girls some scratch about an hour before they go in the coop to roost. I have noticed that when I let them out of the coop in the morning, the first thing they do is start scratching around in the run to see if they missed anything the night before.