What do you feed your birds

[allen wranch]

Scratch is a mixture of grains, usually corn, millet, wheat, sunflower seeds, etc. It IS NOT a balanced diet alone for chickens. It is primarily carbohydrates and can make the chickens fat which in turn can cause problems in egg laying. It also does not have enough protein in it.

Layer pellets, mash or crumbles are a commercial blend of ingredients specifically for poultry. It is produced for different types of poultry depending upon their needs i.e. laying hens, chicks, broilers, roosters, turkeys, ducks, etc.

For confined birds, a commercial feed is best with scratch given occasionally as treats.

Free range birds get a lot of their nutrients from bugs, worms, grass and other things they pick up. Having a commercial feed available for them helps balance out their diet.

Produce, table scraps and other food sources as a supplement are also good for confined or free range birds if you use good sense (not a lot of salt, chemically enhanced food, sweets for example).

Does this help ?

 

[HenHappy]

Cottage cheese (low sodium, low fat) is one of my girls favorites. They peck it right off a spoon.

 

[mothergoose]

We feed several different commercial feeds. Our hens get layer crumbles. Our turkeys and the ducks & geese get a gamebird pellet. Our peafowl and gamebirds get gamebird flight conditioner. For treats they get red & white millet, black oil sunflower seeds & wheat. I also put out suets for them. They like those too.
Christie

 

[jckc8155]

Quote:
Yes, thanks alot for explaining, it does help. My chickens are free-range and they do get scraps, cracked corn for a treat. I never thought of sunflower seeds, they may enjoy something like that.

Kathy

 

[SandraChick]

carla-

Thats the best general overview of feed I've seen and I love that you separated free range vs confined birds...could have used that knowlege when I first got chickens!!!!

Sandra

 

[turbo13]

Hi All.my Gals Freerange.so They Eat A Lot Of Bugs,grass,clover.I Feed Them Wheat Nuggets/barley,oats.wild Bird Seed And Scatch.brown Rice,spring Mix Veggies.sardines 2x Week.mackeral Canned.[alternate].garlic ,cinnamon.cayanne Pepper.dry Cat Food Ground Up.I Mix Some Fish Oil[from Sardines]in Food.and Sometimes Corn On The Cob.they Do Not Get Commerical Feed. I Find Their Poop Much Drier.less Smell.and Lot Less.I Got This Feeding Idea From Byc Member.Resolution.this Is My Verison.so Far So Good. My Birds Are 3 Months Old.

 

[3chimama]

My girls free range...they are also on flockraiser with free choice oyster shells because there are also pullets who aren't laying yet with them, scratch, lots of fruit and veggies, sometimes a handful of cat food if they are near the cat bowl ;D I had a peice of leftover birthday cake the other day and threw it to them and they went crazy!! So funny seeing them with cake on their beaks!

 

[Eagles_View]

I have 12 chickens and 12 guineas and they all free range....but I keep several different size feeders out with a mixture of layer mash and cracked corn mixed together....

Throughout the day, I may throw out what ever needs to be thrownout...cept meat scraps. They eat, crackers, stale bread, left over salad, cake, donuts, watermelon will set up a feeding frenzy....even with full feed at will, they act like they are starving. Mine are so spoiled, that I have to sneak out the door if I don't have some sort of treat for them...or they will swarm around my legs...LOL I have to feed my two cats on top of my vehicle, sneak it up there, or the chickens will take over and the two little cats will get pecked away.

-Eagles View
NE MO.