Scratch

[OwlLover]

Doesn't corn get them to gain weight?

 

[halo]

Well Im going to go against the grain (joke, ha!) and say that I throw out scratch for my meaties as well as my layers. They still have their high protein feed, and the layers free range over my 10 acres, but the meaties just plop down in one place, until I throw scratch out, and they waddle out to scratch the grains as well as pick at the grass. For the amount of broiler feed that they eat daily, the few handfulls of scratch that I throw out does little or nothing to their nutrition, other them getting them off their fat butts and moving around a bit.

 

[LizaBlue]

I've read that corn gets them to put on "fat" which adds weight, but is that what you are going for?

Glad I subscribed to this post. I'm not a scratch feeder, since the type carried locally contains mostly stuff my poultry doesn't like + corn, so I just buy cracked corn, and I grew feed corn for them as well. My poultry seems healthy, the one I ate had just enough fat for me (I usually trim a cupful off storebought, but didn't trim a tablespoon off Lothario), but I really do want to do the best thing for them. They free range in a decent size yard most of the day, then have access to the rest of 2 acres for about 2 hrs. in the evening. They also usually get a higher protein food (24%) because I have turkeys as well as chickens. I did not know that high protein was better for warmth than corn. I like giving treats to keep my poultry social, so I will be looking for better choices. I recently found out that their favorite - Alf's Natural Nutrition Brown Rice cereal - had no nutritional value whatsoever, so it's off my shopping list!

 

[galanie]

Quote:
Talk about Irony.

 

[LizaBlue]

I know, right?? Here I was thinking, Brown Rice, Natural Nutrition, must be good! After 6 months of feeding them probably 50 bags of this stuff, I finally read the label: nothing. No vitamins, No fiber, just calories.

 

[ridgewood chickens]

I throw a handful of scratch into their run every couple of days just to increase their activity - they love to dig around for it, and that coupled with a bucket of dry leaves put in also seems to keep them very busy and happy.

 

[LizaBlue]

They also seem to LOVE lawn clippings, esp. dryer ones. We bag our back yard, but don't our front, so I just wait a day for them to dry out, and scoop up a bunch and toss them in the chicken yard for the party!

 

[trooper]

I don't know if scratch helps to add body heat or not.I do know that they have eaten it for years,it doesn't kill them,it does feed them ,and it makes them happy.My way of thinking it can't be all bad.I do not feed it as their main souce of feed.I spread it in their run and they come a running.I feed them layer pellets at free choice and they seem to be fine.I'm good to my chickens and I feel better knowing that scratch may help with their staying warmer in the winter.

 

[galanie]

It doesn't help them stay warmer by the content of the food, but in terms of activity it probably helps. At the very least it gives them something to do in an otherwise boring dreary winter day.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I don't know if the same is true for chickens, but the science is in on feeding hay to horses for helping them keep warm in winter. My sister had mentioned that as long as horses had hay in their bellies, they stayed warm. Of course I had to check it out on the web. Here is what I found:

"Oat hay is high in fiber and, like most grass hays, generates a fair amount of fermentation heat while being digested which actually helps keep horses warm in the winter." from - Rutgers, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Equine Science Center

Now, granted, chickens have a much smaller and shorter digestive system, but fermentation is how fiber is digested.

If you go to Answers.com, the answer I got was: A chicken's digestive system is extremely efficient. Most chickens that eat fruit,fresh greens and soft vegetables can digest in thirty minutes, seeds and particularly hard veggies and fiber usually digests within three hours. A normal healthy bird eating continuously should have anywhere from 20 to 50 eliminations a day which shows how fast they process food. I don't know the source of this information, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of the statement.

So it seems that a scratch that is seeds and stuff that is higher in fiber, will take longer to digest, which will help to keep them warmer for a couple of hours.