Supplementing feed - classroom coop project

[BTgrade3]

We are a third grade class from central Vermont and we are looking into building a chicken coop at our school. The dining room is going to buy the eggs from us. The money we get from the dining room will almost cover the cost of the chicken feed. So the rest of the food we will get will be food scraps from the dining room. We have three questions. First, what types of (food)scraps can be used to supplement feed?. Second, how can we keep the supplements and chicken feed balanced? Lastly, what scraps do we avoid.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Not sure if you have seen it, but there is a nice Chicken Treat chart in the Learning Center, chickens can eat about anything and there are the few things to avoid at the bottom of the chart. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens and the Learning Center in general https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
Most commercial feeds say to limit treats/scraps to about 10-15% of the diet to avoid unbalancing it. One thing is treats/scraps tend to be low in protein and most commercial Layer feed is about 16% protein, protein is money and the 16% is apparently where the cost of the protein evens out with the egg production... if you get your protein % too low your egg production will suffer. You can get higher protein feeds and feed more scraps, figuring as long as the chickens have a really varied diet they should be OK. (Or try to figure out the protein% of your scraps, ie if you have a lot of meat scraps) Either way, it is a good idea to have oyster shell available for the laying hens as an extra calcium source if you are not feeding a complete commercial feed. and, Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[Barnet Coopster]

Three items that should be avoided are potato peels, avocados and chocolate.

We have found that the amount if compost used should be equal to the amount of grain top balance their diet.

We have found chickens to enjoy all foods- vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, etc.

Another thing to remember is to only put out what the hens will eat to avoid bacteria and unpleasant smells.