winter feedind

[centrarchid]

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What is BOSS?

Black Oil Sunflower Seed. I value them for high fat content for energy and relatively indigestible fiber content for bulk making feces more manageable at cleaning time.

 

[Ema]

My chickens eat the exact same things they ate in the summer, layer feed and a mix of scratch and BOSS the only difference is that they get another serving of scratch and BOSS before lights out so they stay warmer. Now that there is no green grass I provide them with crushed hay cubes or alfalfa pellets, they love that stuff and here and there they get a huge bowl of hay cubes/alfalfa pellets that I mix with oatmeal and lots of boiling water. I make it to the consistency of runny oatmeal and they devour that in no time. throughout the week the get different treats like whole apples, cucumbers or zuchinnis, every 2 weeks I will give them a cabbage or a couple cans of sardines ( i don't give them these items often as I heard too much can make the eggs smell strong or something of the sort). they love chickpeas too. I feed them all egg shells from eggs we have consumed and every week they get 2 dozen scrambled eggs with cayenne pepper in them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

what eggactly does the cayenne pepper do?

 

[Toi-toi]

How do you feed BOSS to chickens?? Do I have to open up all the seeds from shells??

 

[Miss Lydia]

Most don't the crop takes care of the shell.

 

[centrarchid]

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Gizzard handles shell very well. Make certain ample grit available.

 

[centrarchid]

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Cayenne pepper, like paprika and chilli pepper is an excellent source of carotenoids (forms of vitamin A) that give yolk of eggs their yellow to red color. In some critters at least, it improves vitality of hatchlings, since vitamin A is so important for tissue development. Some folks suspect such spices may lower intestinal parasite burden. My largemouth bass, would readily consume diets made up of 10% of such spices, well beyond what I could tolerate. I wonder if chickens are like us or bass in respect to tolerance of so much spice.

 

[abhaya]

I feed them the regular food and give them scrath about 1/2 an hour before they go into the coop for the night. It seems to work for them. They are healthy and happy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

okay what is a scrath? in measurements? cayenne is diffenitly[sp] warming so I can see how it would be good to give it in the evening before they go to bed. how do you give it to a large mouth bass

 

[rancher hicks]

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Sorry, this is not good advice. They basically need the same feed in summer as winter. A good regular meal at bedtime is good but it doesn't need to be warm and it shouldn't be just corn. Corn is chicken candy and has much less nutritive value than regular feed. It is a myth that corn keeps them warm; food keeps them warm, good food.

If your hens are of laying age and laying they should be on layer feed. If they are too young to lay they should be on a feed like grower or flock raiser. You can also feed a flock raiser type feed and offer oyster shell separately if they are laying or of laying age.

On the contrary, this is good advice if you live in a cold area. Please disregard typos.

"Ensuring your birds enter the winter in good weight and providing them with a quality diet throught theh cold season will also help boost their chance of greeting the spring in fine feather. Offering a balanced commercial feed designed for your flocks' age, and stage and purpose year-round is usually the easiest way to meet their nutritional needs. Many raiser supplement their birds' free chioce formulated fare with vegetable trimmings, bread and other healthy table scraps; just be sure you don't over feed these goodies, or they might spurn their balanced rations.

During winter, we feed a commercial layer blend plus pumpkins we collect from area businesses that used them for fall decorations, Burke says. We pile them under a tarp where they freeze solid. To use one, I put it in a bucket in the house to defrost; when ithe pumpkin starts getting squishy, I divide it between the chcikens and sheep. eveyone loves pumpkin!

In alaska , where prepared feeds can be difficult to come by, Brown says rasier commonly feed their chciens fat-rich salmon that is dried and ground into a meal, as well as barley. In the winter, he says, We recommend that people go out before bed and give thier birds a few scoops of cracked corn to provide them with some extra carbs and energy to get through the night. "

This is a paragraph from Hobby Farms Chickens fall/winter 2010. As always I suggest subscribing to Back Yard Poultry and if affordable Practical Poultry magaiznes. On the other hand if you do what would I have to share?

The corn helps your birds generate heat to keep them warm. It's also been suggested to use 2x4's 4 side up so when chickens roost their feet are flat and covered by their feathers so they stay warm and avoid frost bitten toesies.

Wishing everyone a safe and warm winter, love ya all

Rancher