Supplement feed needed for free range?

[CoopsNPoops]

I grew up on a farm in Southeast Missouri. I recognized the shortleaf pine in the photo. We were in the center of the triangle bordered by Ironton, Fredericktown and Farmington.

Ah, bout an hour and a half away maybe 2 hours. Im on the other side of poplar bluff.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ah, bout an hour and a half away maybe 2 hours. Im on the other side of poplar bluff.

We spend a lot of time that way. Mostly west of Poplar Bluff. Like all the way from Van Buren to Springfield and south to the Arkansas line and beyond to the Buffalo and White rivers.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

We spend a lot of time that way. Mostly west of Poplar Bluff. Like all the way from Van Buren to Springfield and south to the Arkansas line and beyond to the Buffalo and White rivers.

Then you should know exactly where i live. In Ellsinore.

 

[Bill752]

A long time ago I had a milk cow & a large garden & a neighbor whom was also a close friend told me that I needed to add commercial fertilizer as well as the barnyard manure & when I asked the elderly gentleman what he used for fertilizer before commercial fertilizer was available he just smiled at me, I was 20 years younger but I was raised old school. Remember the vitamin commercials where they compared how much you needed to eat to get the same vitamins & minerals in just one of their capsules, pills, or whatever? Think old school, I have known a lot of people that were as healthy as horses that had never wasted their money on supplemental vitamins & minerals. They're for those on a restricted diet. Unless you restrict the diets of your chickens then they should do quite well foraging for themselves but supplement their feed at the end of the day with a commercial feed to insure that they found everything that they could've hoped for. Chickens, unlike people, are less likely to overeat, but like people, shouldn't go to their roost hungry.

 

[OKLulu]

Absolutely. There is no way a chicken can get all of the vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent catastrophic health issues by merely free-ranging for bugs and seeds and possibly fallen fruit. Some of the nutrients prevent laying issues and even sudden death from the depletion of nutrients laying can bring about. Commercial feed has all of these, and providing access to this feed along with free ranging will assure your chickens get all they require.

Wow,

Absolutely. There is no way a chicken can get all of the vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent catastrophic health issues by merely free-ranging for bugs and seeds and possibly fallen fruit. Some of the nutrients prevent laying issues and even sudden death from the depletion of nutrients laying can bring about. Commercial feed has all of these, and providing access to this feed along with free ranging will assure your chickens get all they require.

Wow, finding it hard to believe you actually said "There is no way a chicken can get all of the vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent catastrophic health issues by merely free-ranging for bugs and seeds and possibly fallen fruit." I mean really? You believe chickens would not survive or be healthy without commercial feed and or supplements? Hmmmm, wonder how they made it before commercial feed was developed?

 

[azygous]

They didn't. They were usually slaughtered at a few months old or dropped dead. The present trend to keep backyard chickens, not as livestock which is expected to be expendable and not live very long, but as pets that we wish to keep around for years rather than months, good nutrition has become an issue.

There are still plenty of people that free range and do not give much thought to chicken health and well being. But many folks on this site are in the group that consider chickens more as pets or long lived breeding stock and will pursue measures to cure a sick chicken rather than immediately cull. Toward that end, many of us feed commercial feed as an insurance policy that enhances chicken survival.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Your average chicken isn’t going to travel that far from home, so to really leverage those 40 acres, you may want to consider a mobile setup, such as a mobile coop or chicken tractor.

If you move it regularly, they won’t overgraze a small area and it gives the grass and bugs a chance to recover.

Using this approach, the number I’ve seen is that a chicken can supplement about 30% (give or take) of their diet with pasture.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

I free range too, i also offer fermented mash in the morning. I noticed since sring has sprung, they eat less than half the feed they did over winter. I am assuming as summer progresses, they might not touch it at all. I will still offer it tho. We have about 5 acres, but they usually dont wonder more than 2 or so acres from their coop.

I have noticed since they have been getting most of their food free ranging the past few weeks, their egg quality and quantity has significantly increased. Leads me to believe they are actually benefiting more from the free range than the commercial feed. Of course weather might play into that as well, but I am happy they prefer the free bugs and grass over the expensive food and seem to be much healthier and vibrant