Whole Corn Vs Cracked Corn, What do you use?

[Joe.G]

I hear that Corn can make the yellow brighter on my Peafowl, Not sure but Ill see I guess.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I know that a diet of only corn can really mess up the coloring on a white chicken or any bird with white. Here is the first rooster I ever owned, rescued from his unhealthy home (I bought him, but dang it, he was in rough shape). He was a BR but positively gold in the hackles. After just over a month of decent food, this is what happened with my Hawkeye:

For the entire story, read this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16159/the-renovation-of-hawkeye-a-pictorial-history

BEFORE, days after he got to us, yellow feathers, pale skin, underweight, lice and favus (last two not due to diet, of course) He was 10 months old.



AFTER-you can see the gold disappearing from his hackles and his weight increasing, still in quarantine.



Another month or so of proper care:

 

[chickenneighbor]

A perfect picture of what love and proper care/feed can do for our pets.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

.... What is Dent feed?

Dent corn, aka yellow dent corn, alias field corn is the every day corn that is grown from New York to California and is used for animal feed, ethanol feed stock, HFCS, Kentucky Bourbon, and thousands of other uses. It is called dent corn because when dry each kernel has a dimple in its top surface and also to differentiate it from sweet corn, white corn, popcorn, flint corn, Indian corn etc.





Also if you are like me and use your chickens for therapy, you can sit down while you flick and toss individual grains hither and yon while watching the antics of your chickens as they compete for them.

 

[Trefoil]

I ferment the feed for my birds. Its been sooo cold here that I am increasing the % of corn in the mix. I use whole corn and I have noticed that they (peas,guineas,ducks, & geese) pick the corn out first. Until the weather breaks, I am more interested in giving them what they need to survive the cold than anything else. I have a group of young guineas that I haven't switched over to the fermented feed yet, they are getting gamebird starter (blue seal), I really need to get them switched, they look okay but not in nearly as good condition as everyone else. My peas have the choice of gamebird or fermented, but they mostly eat the fermented. I think they only go for the gamebird when they get hungry and the fermented is frozen.

 

[speckledhen]

A perfect picture of what love and proper care/feed can do for our pets.

Thank you. The sad thing about Hawkeye's story is that I bought him from an FFA teenager.

Kid should have known better.

 

[WhiteLeghorn2]

Thank you. The sad thing about Hawkeye's story is that I bought him from an FFA teenager.

Kid should have known better.

Hi, I has read Hawkeye's story a long time ago. It's a great story, and I'm so glad that you saved him from his corn diet. I believe that corn is fine, but as a treat, most definitely not as the main food source. That kid must've been taught by somebody that corn is good for them. As I've actually found a lot of older generations believed that corn was healthy for chickens. Anyways, happy New Year and have a good one!

 

[speckledhen]

I don't want to make corn a villain, but there are consequences in feeding it as the sole source of nutrition for a penned bird. If he had been a free range rooster, that woud not have hurt him quite as much as it did because it wouldn't have been the only food he had access to on a daily basis.

Happy New Year to you, too!

 

[1muttsfan]

Love the way his chest filled out into that beautiful full breast

 

[WYNot]

I don't want to make corn a villain, but there are consequences in feeding it as the sole source of nutrition for a penned bird. If he had been a free range rooster, that woud not have hurt him quite as much as it did because it wouldn't have been the only food he had access to on a daily basis.

Happy New Year to you, too!

With chickens and people... a little moderation and diversity is a good thing. Too much of anything is generally not healthy.