white bread for chicken

[AntiqueB]

Mine also do not overeat. Their feed is grains with a vitamin mix (Scratch & Peck), which is available all day. I have to keep them in the run for a half hour in the morning to make sure they eat; otherwise, they'd run right out.

I fill their feeder 3 times a day, and there's always some left at bedtime.

 

[NatJ]

I have a mix of breeds. The golden comets are the most food-centric. They all are anxious to go out in the morning but return to the pen from the farthest reaches of the pasture if they see me anywhere near the pen.

That's really odd, because any time I've had sexlinks, they would eat food scraps or grass or bugs if they could, and only eat the purchased feed it nothing better was available.

I wonder if your purchased feed is tastier than what I've bought over the years?
Or if they just think it's better because isn't always present?
Chickens are puzzling sometimes!

 

[Tilhana]

Of course and I don't dispute any of that. But it still goes back to the fact that grandma really didn't care if chickens lived or died...they were a food source. But the op as I understand it was talking about feeding them JUST bread and worms...and sorry rhats still too much bread imo. Our flock eats flock raiser, layer, cracked corn, scratch, table scraps, commercial treats, and sometimes small bread crumbs as treats. And whatever else they can find. And they do fine. I dont feel commercial feed is all that expensive.

No I totally agree the idea OP was asking about is way too much white bread. I also try to give mine a varied diet, but since I only feed them organic grain, I find the commercial feed to be prohibitively expensive. But I've found ways around that, such as buying organic grains in bulk and mixing them myself, fermenting feed to make it more nutritious and last longer, letting them free range, and giving them lots of kitchen scraps.

But I would disagree that just because a chicken is a source of food, you don't care if it lives or dies. My chickens are not pets; they are a source of eggs and, in some cases, meat. In most cases I'm not really bonding with them the way people do with their pets. But I'm still invested in keeping them alive, even if only for economic reasons. When you hatch chickens from eggs and raise them, it takes a lot of time, work, and food (ie money) to get them to the point where they will give you eggs or meat. So losing a young chicken definitely hurts; not as much as losing a pet, it's true, but it hurts enough to care a little about what you're feeding them.

 

[Tilhana]

we feed sourdough bread to our chickens. my family owns a bread business so it’s not a stretch, we cut up the ends that we can’t eat and sprinkle it into our run once a week. the girls love it and i’ve never had any issues, but we still have layer feed in the coop so i can’t say. it’s good for us because the bread comes at no charge and we make it in the house, but i can’t say how it would be for others. just my 2 cents, you do you.

Sourdough ,made in a bakery is much more nutritious than white bread from the store. I would do the same if I had a bread business.

 

[Tilhana]

Huh. Maybe it depends on the breed. Mine prefer to free range the majority of the time. It’s actually a bit of a problem since they can’t always be lured back to the pen with treats. The only thing that consistently works is Catawaba worms. But unfortunately those are only around for a few months in the summer. Not even dried mealworms temp them back some days.

It probably does depend on the breed. Some are better foragers than others. There's also individual preferences; some chickens just have unusual tastses. But since I have a mix of breeds and I know SOME of them will just keep eating, I don't leave enough food in the run that the gluttons can gorge all day. But even in the cases of the chickens who prefer forage over grains, I'm still not hearing any examples of chickens that stop eating once they've reached their caloric requirements for the day. I don't even know humans who do that. I think it's just that different chickens have different favorite foods and will eat those foods as long as they're available.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I wonder if it varies even from individual chicken to chicken or flock to flock? I have a mixed flock of probably 6-8 different breeds, and they have access to commercial feed, compost, food scraps, and whatever they want to scratch up. They “graze” all day, but don’t overeat anything in particular.

 

[Chris2018]

It probably does depend on the breed. Some are better foragers than others. There's also individual preferences; some chickens just have unusual tastses. But since I have a mix of breeds and I know SOME of them will just keep eating, I don't leave enough food in the run that the gluttons can gorge all day. But even in the cases of the chickens who prefer forage over grains, I'm still not hearing any examples of chickens that stop eating once they've reached their caloric requirements for the day. I don't even know humans who do that. I think it's just that different chickens have different favorite foods and will eat those foods as long as they're available.

I'm still not hearing any examples of chickens that stop eating once they've reached their caloric requirements for the day.

Most all poultry will if eat to fill a caloric need.
The caloric need for a laying type hen can range from 2,800 to 2,900 kcal/kg, and that is depending on there production stage. Now poultry that free ranges will tend to eat more not only because they burn more energy but also because they tend to take in more animal protein and animal proteins take longer to digest so it takes longer for the excise proteins turned into energy..

I don't even know humans who do that

The nutritional needs of poultry and the way they process there food is different than humans. When we eat our food goes straight to our stomach, when poultry eat there food goes to there crop and sits there for up to 12 hours getting for the most part "fermented" then the food goes to the gizzard to get ground up and later absorbed by the small intestine.

 

[Chris2018]

I wonder if it varies even from individual chicken to chicken or flock to flock? I have a mixed flock of probably 6-8 different breeds, and they have access to commercial feed, compost, food scraps, and whatever they want to scratch up. They “graze” all day, but don’t overeat anything in particular.

It could be, I know genetics can play a big role in it.
Good example being, I raise, breed and show true heritage R.I. Red's and I also raise egg layers which are a heritage R.I. Red American Game Fowl cross.
Now my R.I. Reds eat less feed than my egg layer cross's and I believe that it is do the higher metabolism of the American Game Fowl. The higher metabolism would mean they burn energy faster.
You can also see this in some hatchery stock since most of there birds have Leghorn bred into them to increase egg production but by breeding Leghorn into there stock they could be also producing a bird with high metabolism that burns more energy faster and need to eat more often.

 

[chicknmania]

Sourdough ,made in a bakery is much more nutritious than white bread from the store. I would do the same if I had a bread business.

And actually, i was going to say earlier that's probably what grandma fed too, is sourdough bread.

 

[chicknmania]

Ours don't eat all the food just because it's there either. They eat til they're not hungry, then stop. They will still run up to us during the day to see what treats we might have, because you just never know....but of course, theyre treats! They don't have to be hungry to eat those. People do the same thing lol.