What is better for a winter supplement, cracked corn or scratch grain?

[K0k0shka]

Hey Phyllis, what is BOSS? I'm trying to figure out what to best feed my young chickens until spring. Should have waited to incubate my hen's first eggs. Just too excited. Now I have winter babies. Ack!

You have resurrected a thread that's 15 years old, lived for 1 day and has been dead for 15 years. Phyllis has not been active on BYC for the past decade. Also, your question has already been answered 15 years ago on this very page. If you have a new question that has not been answered already, you can start a new thread.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I toss a scoop of scratch grains out in their runs in the morning and their feeder inside has a mixture of grower crumbles, layer crumbles and game bird feed. I also soak alfalfa cubes for them and they get leftovers when available.

Mine wouldn't eat BOSS, so I mixed it with the wild bird food and put it in the outside bird feeders.

Alfalfa cubes.... How/why do you use this for your hens? I was considering adding something else for them through the long new england winters when the grass is unavailable. Seen many products for alfalfa, and became overwhelmed not having enough knowledge about the benefits. Thank you

 

[saysfaa]

Sun Angel hasn't signed on since 2016. If you don't mind someone else answerimg.

Alfalfa is widely available, fairly affordable, and has a better nutritional profile than all the other such options with the exception of complete chicken feeds (like pellets or crumbles.) And is enjoyed by most chickens.

I would add, it is about as close to "fresh food" as one can find in stored feed. I think there is value in fresh food that does not show up on the labels of food for people or animals. Things like antioxidents, phytochemicals, endophytes...

Disclosure: I haven't fed alfalfa to my chickens yet. I've fed a lot of it to cattle and other species and read quite a lot about the details of feeding it to chickens. However, we generate too much good fresh food from our kitchen and/or from our land to want to buy alfalfa too. The more fresh food I offer, the more important it is that what I offer is in combinations that allow them to get enough of each nutrient without getting too much of any of the nutrients or anti-nutrients.