winter feedind

[Miss Lydia]

I feed flock raiser with scratch in morning and eve. with oyster shell on the side but I have never seen my chickens eating any of the oyster shell. They free range could they be getting all they need that way?calcium that is.My ducks eat the oyster shell when they are laying.

 

[centrarchid]

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The bulk of calcium could be coming from feed or free range foraging. Oyster shell intake likely to be meeting needs for grit first, calcium second. I think my birds ingest only about ten peices or so of grit per day, so its uptake is relatively rare when I watch them pick at ground. My birds also seem to make grit runs in driveway, where particles of a pretty narrow size range are ingested as grit. That treat those locations like some anmals treat salt licks.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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If it's very cold outside and their energy requirement is high they will eat more, but there is a physical limit to what they can actually consume. If their feed is low in energy they will eat and eat trying to keep up, especially with shorter day lengths that limit feeding times. Adding more protein can actually drop energy content , depending upon the source, and they don't really need the extra protein, as it's more than likely that they are already getting more than they actually need. You can increase the energy available in the feed by adding corn or wheat, both of which have high energy content, or animal fat. Animal fat is very high in energy, more than double that of corn or wheat.

 

[Miss Lydia]

like suet cakes?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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Sure. Or pork fat scrap.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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That's not correct. What they need does vary by season. Their protein and mineral requirements are fixed according to age and production level, but they eat to fulfill their energy requirements, less in summer and a lot more in the winter. Generally, in the heat of summer when they are eating less, one should provide a feed with a higher nutrient density, to help get the required protein into them. Conversely, in the winter when they are eating as much as 25% more to keep warm, they don't need the extra protein and minerals that they are consuming.

Summer = higher protein
Winter = lower protein

By diluting the their ration with corn, you are essentially creating a lower protein feed, just as if you had asked the feed mill to mix up a batch of say, 15% layer feed. They can use the extra energy that is provided by the corn without taking in excess protein and minerals.

Corn is not "candy" or just a treat for the birds, it is a good source of carbohydrates that provide energy for them to maintain in cold weather.

This solves a puzzle for me! I couldn't figure out why my birds were suddenly wolfing down the grains!!!! All these BOSS and other seeds left behind!! I was thinking- it's like they want more "WHEAT!!!! Wheat!!!"- They were saying to me with their eating choices.

Well, I am definitely going to include more grains then.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So I have a question if I feed flock raiser in summer and winter should I change the way I am feeding?

 

[centrarchid]

I keep by base diet (growth or layer depending on life cycle / production stage) the same and supplement with an energy dense grain. Previously used corn only but now using a mixture of BOSS and corn as energy dense supplements. For some reason with my base diet, BOSS are targetted more than corn. Using a different base diet might result in a different ratio of corn and BOSS consumed.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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That's one reason.

It's not just growth and maintenance though, but also reproduction. Most hens quit laying in cold weather because they are diverting resources to maintenance and there is not enough left for reproduction.

In our case, with 2500 hens in organic production, we heat the barn with propane to maintain 60-65 degrees and maintain a level consumption of feed. Organic feed is expensive and the savings on feed pays for the propane. Even at that temperature they are consuming more feed than they would at an "optimum" (thermoneutral) temperature in the mid to high 70's. Cutting back on protein has many effects for us:

- it is cheaper
- excess protein is excreted and the excess nitrogen in the litter generates more ammonia
- we need to maintain an average "large" egg size, as this is the most popular commodity size that we are paid the most for, high protein consumption leads to seemingly ever-increasing hen weights and egg weights
- increased hen weights lead to even higher consumption
- increased hen and egg weights leads to higher mortality from binding, prolapse, peritonitis, etc.
- increased egg weights lead to poorer shell quality

 

[Toi-toi]

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What is BOSS?