sticking to free range & avoiding laying feed

[ChickenCanoe]

Time will tell if that's sufficient nutrition. It could very well be. That's the way they were raised in the old days when the average chicken laid about 60 eggs a year.

 

[witchwriter]

we'll know when they start laying, correct? if it is too taxing on them or if the egg quality is low, i will rethink my position on what we're feeding them and go buy feed. i won't stress my girls.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's the right attitude. Start with a plan, trial and error, but keeping an open mind.
I think you came for advice and we all just gave our two cents worth.
It's important to remember that no matter how successful one is with their animal husbandry, their experience often comes from one geographic location and its associated climate. What works perfectly one place can be a disaster elsewhere.
My experience is in the Midwest and the tropics. I can only imagine what I would do if I lived where they only had a 4 month growing season.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

this is a small corner of what my girls are foraging in. they will never, in their lifetime, eat all the frogs, lizards, grasshoppers, or crickets on this property. i only have 6 chickens at the moment and this will sustain them fine. they also get a cup of corn and sunflower seeds each day with the table scraps.

OK. Maybe. Talk to extension.

I will reiterate that the chicken that lived happily free ranging with nothing but grain and table scraps was likely a dunghill fowl or an O.E. Game. Even the Dominiques have been "improved" to the point that they require some layer chow and oyster shell be available to make up deficiencies. And Dominiques are considered forage Hoovers.

The larger the bird, the more it needs to forage just to meet its most basic needs. The more productive the strain, the more it needs to forage.

I think I am very nervous about the fact that supplementary oyster shell and layer feed aren't available. When mine are ripping around our yard, their layer chow consumption drops dramatically - but it never goes away completely. They will come in and hit the trough before going to roost.

Corn is great for calories, but be aware it doesn't have a lot of vitamins, minerals, or proteins.

It is amazing just how rapidly they can eradicate major insect, snail, and other infestations.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Time will tell if that's sufficient nutrition. It could very well be. That's the way they were raised in the old days when the average chicken laid about 60 eggs a year.

The problem is that modern hens will rob their own bodies to try and produce eggs. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if the chickens involved were O.E. Games or one of the other smaller, naturally less productive egg layers.

 

[witchwriter]

I think I am very nervous about the fact that supplementary oyster shell and layer feed aren't available.

oyster shell has been available since 15 weeks of age