Quote:
I add corn this time of year. I am currently adding some scratch feed and ground corn. Not terribly nutritious but a nice warm food. Whole grains are very good like Southern States Rockin Rooster or Uppercut. Both have millet, milo, BOSS, corn, peas, wheat etc and when the birds fill their crops before going to bed then the whole grains last longer, keep them filling fuller through the night and that adds a bit of heat to the body. Pellets break down quickly in the crop and they are very hungry the next morning since winter nights are so long.
Rolled oats are a good food as well as rolled barley. I often find grits or rice that has bugs in it for sale and snatch those up for cooking and feeding. Sometimes adding tomatoes or bits of green to it and always trying to take that opportunity to add red pepper flakes for natural deworming but those pumpkin seeds did a good job, too.
I would also suggest that anything you didn't get weeded in warm weather, weed it over the next few months and throw everything to your birds. They will eat the greens. The extra dirt from roots will help aviod deep mud in their runs. When the uneaten stuff is dried out, just rake the run and add all to your compost pile.
Chickens love bags of leaves, too.
Your family needs to eat fresh foods through the Winter. Chickens love all kinds of squashes, including pumpkins. Sweet potatoes are considered by some chicken experts as ideal food. One guy said basically if it grows in South America, it is probably good for domestic chickens.
If you are ever unsure about a food or treat, just ask on BYC. Somebody will set you right!
We are on a big learning curve. My guineas are 20 weeks old. They are the size of my large chickens but bigger than the bantams. Not sure what happened, but it's maybe time to separate.
