What are you feeding your flock?

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Flock Raiser 20% protein content. When they aren't in molt and if I don't have growing chicks in the flock, it's cut with about 2 cups of scratch per every 4 lbs of feed. Molting birds and growing chicks need more protein, so I don't dilute under those conditions. I also have multiple roosters and cockerels, so layer feed just isn't an option.
 
I also feed Flock Raiser because I have roosters, cockerels, chicks, guineas, and turkeys. I offer oyster shell separately. I am thinking of switching to All Flock in a month or so when I no longer have chicks, though I will have to drive a little to get it.
 
Mine had day old ravioli mixed in their feed this evening. I usually feed them 20% kalmbach all natural starter-grower. Next bag will be laying feed, as they should start laying any day now.
 
Forgot they get red wheat berry sprouts about every 3 days and fodder about every 6 days. For grit i give them gravel from the creek that i clean and dry prior to. In addition, they are out ranging 5-6 hours daily. They get acv in their water all the time.
 
My chickens have access to mash and scratch at all times. In addition to that I give them something called corn distillers which is 28% protein. They free range so they have access to gravel. They also get all kitchen scraps. They don't bother too much with "their" food and always go to bed with full crops. I have eggs coming out of my ears with 16 hens and 3 roosters.
 
spoikey said:
My chickens have access to mash and scratch at all times. In addition to that I give them something called corn distillers which is 28% protein. They free range so they have access to gravel. They also get all kitchen scraps. They don't bother too much with "their" food and always go to bed with full crops. I have eggs coming out of my ears with 16 hens and 3 roosters.
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When people say "mash" are they referring to fermented feed?
 
Mash can mean different types in different places. Commonly, I think you could say it is what pellet or crumble feed is before they powder it and compress into pellets, with crumble being simply crushed pellets. Mash can be a whole grain type, or more processed as a coarse powder. It's common for smaller companies that don't do volume to invest in the pelletization equipment.

Many do ferment mash feed to avoid the picky ones from only eating what they want and not getting full nutrition, or the waste that occurs as they peck through for fab pieces.
 
I feed my birds 18% mash from the local feed mill that has no calcium added and free choice oyster shell. Well, that is for flock 1 that is 27 weeks old. My 11 week old Buff Orpingtons get 21% mash from the local feed mill. Before getting my mash from the local feed mill I bought Dumor and then Purina from TSC but was not happy with it. Many times there were large hardened clumps in the crumbles that were not easily broken up and other times I got mostly dust. As an aside, TSC wanted $17 for a 15 pound bag of layer and I pay $17.50 for a 100 pound bag of mash at the mill. I was informed today when I bought feed that I would get a bulk discount if I bought 300 pounds or more at a time which is what I did so I ended up paying $16 per 100 pound bag. (No worries as I have 17 ducks and 30 chickens that feed gets eaten up quickly!)

On another note, I had seen that someone mentioned that chickens eat roughly 1/4 pound of feed per day per bird. In my experience that is about right for smaller breeds but my dual purpose birds eat about 1/3 a pound per day. My Orpingtons are up to 1/4 a pound per day at 11 weeks old and I know they are not done growing. These are just hatchery birds so I would imagine that larger birds from a breeder would eat even more. My birds free range about 6 hours a day too. I don't give them many treats though.
 

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