When do i change Feed

[Elaine E]

Just a thought~ It has only been in resent times (relative to human/chicken relationships) that we've had special feeds for different purposes throughout the chicken's lives. My grandmother, mother, and myself, as a child, only used scratch for the basic feed because that's what was available. We never had problems with disease and all, except for a few that ended up as some wild animal's dinner, lived very long lives. Now I buy all the fancy feeds, have a big fancy coop, and even make "playground" toys for their entertainment... but I wonder if we over think this stuff sometimes.

 

[Folly's place]

Your grandmother's chickens weren't like modern birds! They were likely smaller, grew slower, and produced far fewer eggs per year. They also tended to land in the soup if unproductive. Also, they probably grazed on a much wider variety of plants, and more animal protein, in bugs and little critters. Mary

 

[Elaine E]

Modern chickens? : ) I like that. Does that mean I should open a Twitter account for my girls?
Grandma's birds were egg layers, kept in her backyard in a residential neighborhood in So. California. They were very healthy and to me seemed really large, but that could be because I was a child.. Perhaps they had stronger immune systems, who knows.
As a kid, I raised fancy breed Bantams on scratch and yard pickings. I'm not saying we should be doing that, I'm just thinking about how simple things seemed to be. I see 4H kids now washing their birds before a show. I never had to do that. Sorry, this has turned into one of those "good old days" posts.

 

[debid]

Advancements in poultry nutrition come from scientific study. If you choose to discard that and feed your chickens an "old time" diet, they will likely survive. But it won't be an improvement any more than a pole vaulter showing up to a meet with a vintage aluminum pole would stand a chance of competing against those with composite poles.

 

[junebuggena]

It's not so much that the chickens have changed, but that there is a very good understanding of what the nutritional needs are now. Nutrition research is now a huge industry. Feed manufacturers now have better information than they did many years ago, and the feeds have advanced with that knowledge. The results are flocks that live longer, are far more healthy, and are much more productive.

 

[Elaine E]

Yes, yes, I understand and agree! I am only finding it interesting how much care and attention we give to our backyard poultry.

 

[ducklingfirst]

I started growers pellets with my duckling the day before she was officially 5 weeks old. I know it was early but there was no point in buying a whole bag of chick crumb for 2 weeks.