Summer scratch

[7L Farm]

How many conversation have you had with people that tell you my chickens aren't laying & my first response is what are you feeding them. Most will answer saying scratch. I hardly ever feed scratch maybe a bag in the winter . On a really cold night I'll toss some to the birds right before they go & roost. I think it fills them up for the cold night ahead of them & helps them sleep better. Kinda like cookies & milk helps people sleep better. Scratch is like junk food it throws off their protein level & slows down your egg production. Birds need alot of protein to lay eggs day in & day out. I try & stay away from low protein feed. Low protein diet can cause too many problems besides slowing down egg production it can cause feather picking.
The only treats I give my birds is boss. I do have a garden which I give the birds alot of veggies but I've always considered veggies as an essential food. But here again everybody raises there flocks different.
I was told from an avian vet that laying birds only need a good laying pellet, some greens & fresh water that's it. But we all spoil our animals & give them junk food here & there. Just don't over do the junk food.

 

[Chris09]

How many conversation have you had with people that tell you my chickens aren't laying & my first response is what are you feeding them. Most will answer saying scratch. I hardly ever feed scratch maybe a bag in the winter . On a really cold night I'll toss some to the birds right before they go & roost. I think it fills them up for the cold night ahead of them & helps them sleep better. Kinda like cookies & milk helps people sleep better. Scratch is like junk food it throws off their protein level & slows down your egg production. Birds need alot of protein to lay eggs day in & day out. I try & stay away from low protein feed. Low protein diet can cause too many problems besides slowing down egg production it can cause feather picking.
The only treats I give my birds is boss. I do have a garden which I give the birds alot of veggies but I've always considered veggies as an essential food. But here again everybody raises there flocks different.
I was told from an avian vet that laying birds only need a good laying pellet, some greens & fresh water that's it. But we all spoil our animals & give them junk food here & there. Just don't over do the junk food.

I will agree with some of your post but,
Scratch has its place when used right, you also have to look at the type of scratch that is being used before you call it "Junk Food".
There are a lot of different types of scratch grain out there, shoot a 18% protein all grain pigeon feed could be called a "Scratch Grain".

Now as far as hens needing a lot of protein to lay, I guess it depends on the breed. Most hens will lay a good amount of eggs on a 16% protein.

My laying pen gets a mixture of Turkey Starter, Scratch Grain and Alfalfa Meal the protein amount is just a little over 16% protein. A pen of 20 birds will give me 18 eggs a day, 7 days a week, that's 126 eggs a week.
That's being done on a feed mix that is nearly 70% Scratch Grain.

Feather picking has a lot to do with the type of protein that is being used in the feed. You will have less of a chance of having feather with a feed that has animal protein in it.

Chris

 

[bossybetty]

Wow, you guys have given me a lot to consider. Storey's Book of Raising Chickens is the name of the book, I think. I cannot locate it at the moment for some reason. I have had to rely on books, well, until I found this awesome site, for information since I have zero experience with chickens prior to getting my current girls two years ago. I really don't have a pool of people to draw information from locally, so I am extremely pleased I found you guys.

What I feed my girls is oyster shell, granite, dried crushed egg shells (theirs), scratch grains I buy in a 50lbs bag at the local farm store, and layer feed which I also buy at the local farm store. My kids toss mulberries in their run since they are in season, and they have been the delighted recipients of worms and grubs that we have removed from our garden. They also get salad greens, and veggie peelings when i have them as scraps.

Should I be adding different grains to their diet, such as oat and barley? What benefits will my hens get from adding grains?

 

[Chris09]

Wow, you guys have given me a lot to consider. Storey's Book of Raising Chickens is the name of the book, I think. I cannot locate it at the moment for some reason. I have had to rely on books, well, until I found this awesome site, for information since I have zero experience with chickens prior to getting my current girls two years ago. I really don't have a pool of people to draw information from locally, so I am extremely pleased I found you guys.

What I feed my girls is oyster shell, granite, dried crushed egg shells (theirs), scratch grains I buy in a 50lbs bag at the local farm store, and layer feed which I also buy at the local farm store. My kids toss mulberries in their run since they are in season, and they have been the delighted recipients of worms and grubs that we have removed from our garden. They also get salad greens, and veggie peelings when i have them as scraps.

Should I be adding different grains to their diet, such as oat and barley? What benefits will my hens get from adding grains?

Try to stay away of feeding Barley.
Barley can cause sticky droppings due to its high amounts of a non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) called mixed-linked β-glucan. NSPs are important components of endosperm cell walls and are common in cereal grains and other seed crops. In barley, 70% of the endosperm walls are made up of NSPs.

What you are feeding sound good depending on the amount of Protein in your layer feed.
If your layer is 20% protein then you could feed up to 30% Scratch Grain.

Chris

 

[bossybetty]

Chris

Their feed is 20% protein, and I feed it in a hanging feeder. The shells and granite are usually mixed with the scratch grains. should the granite and oyster be a free choice as well? Can they eat too much of it if I free feed it?

I give them scratch once a day, in the evening. Should I be feeding them scratch more often?

 

[Chris09]

Chris

Their feed is 20% protein, and I feed it in a hanging feeder. The shells and granite are usually mixed with the scratch grains. should the granite and oyster be a free choice as well? Can they eat too much of it if I free feed it?

I give them scratch once a day, in the evening. Should I be feeding them scratch more often?

The Shells and Grit should giving free choice and in separate containers.
One a day for the scratch is fine.

Chris

 

[7L Farm]

I did state everybody raises their birds different didn't I. I feed mine wendlands eggmaker 151 its 20 % protein. At first I was feeding 17% protein & some scratch & the girls were feather picking like you wouldn't believe. I had the worse looking chickens on the planet. I mean people were telling me to cull the entire flock. I struggled with this flock for over a year until I finally changed feed & stopped feeding scratch. That's why I'm not a big scratch fan. That's just me. I had a rough time with those birds but they now look great & lay good. Whats wild is they have always been great layers that's why I never gave up on them. I now have three generations from the original flock . My third generation is from a different rooster though.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Wow, calling people names and spewing nonsense unrelated to the topic is immature, don't bother responding since I won't be returning to this closed minded thread....kikiriki I think your wasting your breath on someone that cannot consider the off chance he may learn something, however I found the articles interesting...it may not be rocket science, but it is science and new information comes along occasionally, too bad some cannot refresh their brains

 

[Chris09]

Wow, calling people names and spewing nonsense unrelated to the topic is immature, don't bother responding since I won't be returning to this closed minded thread....kikiriki I think your wasting your breath on someone that cannot consider the off chance he may learn something, however I found the articles interesting...it may not be rocket science, but it is science and new information comes along occasionally, too bad some cannot refresh their brains

Think about it a minute IF corn raised body temperature OR made poultry hot, why don't more backyard chickens drop over dead from heat stroke or stress by eating?

The funny thing is that most of the people that say corn raised the body temperature of poultry or will make them hot still feed other grains that are around, just as high or higher in DE Mcal/lb.

Corn has a DE Mcal/lb of 1.78
Milo - 1.70 Mcal/lb
Oat Groats - 1.86 Mcal/lb
Barley - 1.66 Mcal/lb
Wheat - 1.78 Mcal/lb
Oat Meal - 1.88 Mcal/lb

DE = Digestible Energy

If your going to cut out corn because it's making or chickens "hot" then you better cut out the above listed products also.

If feeding scratch/corn heated up bird why would a feed Mfg recommend feeding it with there higher protein feed?



Quote from http://www.buckeyenutrition.com/media/137702/20_pct_gold standard laying crumbles.pdf

40% grain. For lighter weight hens and hens in extremely heavy production, the level of Gold

Standard Laying Crumbles to grain may be increased to 70% Crumbles and 30% grain. Always
maintain a clean, fresh supply of water along with oyster shells and grit for the laying hens. Maintain
the birds in a clean, dry, and draft free environment. For hens to lay at their genetic potential,
daylight or artificial light must be maintained at between 14 and 16 hours per day.
Do not feed Gold Standard Laying Crumbles to any laying hens or young growing birds for extended
periods of time because the higher levels of calcium incorporated into the feed for egg shell
formation may cause harm to the birds.



Now if you start dropping the energy amount of feed where is the bird going to get energy that it needs for growth and producing eggs?

Here is a chart that shows the amount of energy needed for each growing stage.


Table 2. Growing period nutrition recommendations
Product Age in Weeks
Starter
0-6

Grower
6-12

Developer
12-15

Pre-Layer
15-1 %Production
Nutrient
Protein: % Min 20.0 17.50 15.50 16.50
Metabolisable Mj/Kg 11.5-12.4 11.5-12.6 11.3-12.4 11.4-12.4
Energy Kcal/Kg 2750-2970 2750-3025 2700–2970 2725-2980
Kcal/Lb 1250-1350 1250-1370 1225-1350 1235-1350
Lysine % Min 1.10 0.90 0.66 0.80
Methionine % Min 0.48 0.41 0.32 0.38
Methionine + Cystine % Min 0.82 0.71 0.58 0.65
Tryptophan % Min 0.20 0.19 0.18 0.19
Threonine % Min 0.73 0.55 0.52 0.55
Calcium % Min 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.75*
Av Phosphorus % Min 0.45 0.43 0.42 0.40
Sodium % Min 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18
Chloride % Min 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18


ETA,
If anything is going to "heat up" your chickens it is overfeeding proteins.
Here is a quote from Lazy J who has a PhD in Livestock Nutrition,


Quote 1


Quote: 2
Chris

 

[speckledhen]

Speck- can you post the ingredient list? Do you know what the pellets are? I found the mfg web site but it doesn't list the ingredients (that I can see). Unfortunately they do not have a distributor down here in FL.

The bag does not have a complete grain ingredient list on it. I know it has whole kernal corn, popcorn, sunflower seeds, oats, milo, winter wheat (I'm terrible at IDing grains by sight, sorry) and I'm not sure about the others, but on occasion, I see peas and on rare occasions, I'll find some white millet in there.

I've been thinking about writing the company to get a complete ingredient rundown. I think the tag says it contains animal protein so I'd imagine the pellets are the animal protein-that would be because it's meant to be a food for game roosters, technically. I don't know if I have a bag here right now, sorry. I put my Knockout in old peanut butter jars and every morning, I grab a jar off the shelf and throw a few handfuls to each group as I let them out and I shake the jar to call them home from free ranging, and I think I just emptied a bag, but I'll go check and see. They love this stuff.


ETA: I emailed Faithway to see if they would send me a complete grains list. If they do, I will post it for you.

Found the bag in the trash. This is what the bag says:

Quote: