Short-Term Improvised Feed

[Lorielus]

Hi all,

Looking for a quick bit of advice. I've layer pellets on order by due to the Scottish weather at the moment they haven't been able to deliver (and short of hiking out I'm snowed in). I'm down to a few kg of layers pellets which my 3 hens and 2 ducks are hammering through (they normal graze on the pellets morning/night and forage through the day) as there's too much snow for them to forage.

Given it may well be a few more days before the weather lifts, is there something simple I can improvise with to keep them going until I can get more pellets?

I have plentiful wet and dry cat food which is obviously high in protein and amino acids, though I suspect I would maybe need to soften the dry stuff first. Would this be acceptable for a couple of days? (I'm not concerned about the quality of egg lowering, just that it keep them healthy and well fed until the snow lifts).

Many thanks as always.

 

[mgw]

I think it would be ok to feed temporarily, maybe start mixing it with the pellets you have left.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If you mix the dry cat food, you can wet or ferment the whole mix. I would add in something to lower the protein depending on the ratio of layer to cat food and the protein % of the cat food. Any kind of grain will lower the protein. Do you have any grain on site?
Some vegetables would help too.

 

[centrarchid]

I would have so birds can pick through to balance their nutrient intake. Then you can expect birds to consume more protein than is minimum reported essential for egg production but not not enough to cause health issues, especially over the the short term.

 

[Lorielus]

Thanks a lot for the advice as always, worked well and thankfully the roads have been cleared now so proper feed on it's way today.