When to buy chicken scratch?

[wsmith]

2/4 of our hens are laying - would oyster shell still be okay? And where do you generally get it?

You can get it from your local feed store. I have mine in a old tool tray. They eat it as they want to.

Chickens sense what their bodies need, and will eat what they need or crave.

 

[Alaskan]

What is the difference between grower for broilers and for layers? I'm getting a mixed batch of chicks, 20 layers and 10 broilers, on June 20

The grower for boilers is formulated so that the birds put on as much meat as possible as quickly as possible. It is not formulated for long life.

The grower for layers is formulated for slower, more natural, healthier growth so that your layers could live for years.

 

[jak2002003]

I thing all the different food and stages of growth foods, are a marketing tool to get people to spend needless amounts of money.......because they make people worry too much about the chicken diet.

Maybe on large scale commercial flocks, there may be advantages to feeding certain foods, but for small scale home chicken raising for eggs it is a waste of money.

I feed all my chickens a cheap brand of unmedicated chick starter mixed with uncooked rice. They all eat the same, roosters, chicks and hens. The are all very healthy, hens laying lots of eggs, and all plump and good feathers.

I feed them 2 times a day......morning, and in the evening to get them back to their coop.

The FREE range all day........so they can get greens and insects and grit as they forage about.

My chickens are show quality and I get high prices for them, also I get so many eggs I have to give them away or use them to make egg food for my finches.

 

[carrieschicks]

For snacks I give mine any of my produce scraps, but their favorite is cucumber!

 

[kngGA]

my almost 5 week old chicks are still eating chick starter but at what age can they start on chicken scratch?

From my research on the subject of scratch is that there is not much in nutritional value but it keeps them busy. I use it only sparingly, more during the fall/winter rather than the spring/summer. I personally wouldn't put out "scratch" until they get closer to egg laying age. The starter feed contains valuable nutrients important to the growth of the chicken to reach the egg laying stage.

 

[Alaskan]

From my research on the subject of scratch is that there is not much in nutritional value but it keeps them busy.  I use it only sparingly, more during the fall/winter rather than the spring/summer.  I personally wouldn't put out "scratch" until they get closer to egg laying age.  The starter feed contains valuable nutrients important to the growth of the chicken to reach the egg laying stage.

Lots of the value of scratch is to keep them busy. (That isn't to say that scratch has no food value, it simply isn't a complete balanced diet by itself)

Many of the chicken problems, like plucking and picking on each other are caused by boredom. Giving them something to do is great at keeping them happy so they aren't tempted to do the wanted behaviors.

Of course, you don't need to give them scratch to keep the occupied, other stuff works too. Melon rinds are great, any food scraps, free ranging, some hay/leaves/etc to play in.

Lots of choices.

 

[tc4]

I use the scratch to get them in their pen at night, I have trained them to come to hear chicky chicky with a small scoop of the scratch It works every time.

Mine go nuts for whole grapes, rice, pasta, pieces of meat or the fat from meat (ask your butcher for scraps and fry it up), yogurt, cottage cheese, cooked mashed potatoes but they will not touch raw potatoes. They even love lobster and shrimp shells, bones and most scraps from our kitchen. They don't much go for citrus though and greens are not a favourite unless it is lettuce or a cabbage hung on a hook in their pen, they don't like carrots, turnips, beets but they love tomoto's.

My hubby thinks I spoil them rotten, in the winter they get oatmeal or girts which they adore.I grind up all my eggshells and mix it in with whatever feed I give them so they get extra grit.

I think you have to experiment a bit for a while I would collect worms after a rain and they wouldn't touch them but now they go nuts for them. I love having them in my life.

I also get green scraps from my local co op which they love to explore, during summer we have no grass in CA so I have to supplement with whatever scraps I can get but I do buy cabbage heads I hang on a hook.

 

[JitPatsyGold]

My chicks are 11 weeks and I've been giving scratch for a few weeks but not a lot at one time, they love it. They also like strawberries, bananas, love yogurt, blueberries, bread, earthworms, carrots, grass and corn on cob.

Randy

Do you know how old they have to be before you can add alittle DE to their food? What part of NY are you from. I'm from Syracuse

 

[DEBUS CHICKS]

Buy a small pumpkin in the fall and cut it in half! They love it! I have one chicken that will come inside, jump on my lap and wait for raisins....Also chickens love chicken, nothing more wrong then a chicken running with a chicken leg in its mouth!

 

[LaLa Chickie]

yep, me too...I just can't seem to feed eggs or chicken of any kind to my Hens..seems so Cannabalistic...