Winter food

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Curious if your birds are free ranging they would need more than chickens getting less exercise? I have two in a 9' x 20' run. They are eating much more than my friend that were bought same time. Hers have much more limited area.

You might need to check what your friend is feeding her birds and compare to what you are feeding yours.

 

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You will keep your birds better entertained and warmer too if you will keep a deep layer of wheat straw or shredded corn shucks in your coop, pen, or run and toss all your feed into the shucks or straw, thus forcing everyone to scratch for their dinner like the deity intended for chickens to do to find their daily bread..

This is a very good post by "chickengeorgeto"

 

[Gojichicken]

Flock blocks are very high in fat. I choose not to use them. As for corn or oats and the theory that they will keep the birds warmer in the winter, many threads have gone around and around about this topic, causing (pardon my pun) heated debates! A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. As long as the birds have good nutrition, they will be fine in the winter. Chicken feed is high in corn and other grains, so the assumption that giving them extra grains, either whole or cracked will make them warmer in the winter just does not make sense to me. And for that matter, when a body digests a large meal, a lot of peripheral blood gets diverted to the digestive system to distribute the digested nutrients, resulting in a temporary feeling of "being cold". Corn is also high in fat. While extra fat in the body might be a good thing during the winter, too much visceral fat can cause egg laying issues. Some hens when processed carry an incredible amount of deep yellow visceral fat from a diet too high in treats, scratch grains with the large amount of corn being the chief offender.

Flock blocks are very high in fat. I choose not to use them. As for corn or oats and the theory that they will keep the birds warmer in the winter, many threads have gone around and around about this topic, causing (pardon my pun) heated debates! A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. As long as the birds have good nutrition, they will be fine in the winter. Chicken feed is high in corn and other grains, so the assumption that giving them extra grains, either whole or cracked will make them warmer in the winter just does not make sense to me. And for that matter, when a body digests a large meal, a lot of peripheral blood gets diverted to the digestive system to distribute the digested nutrients, resulting in a temporary feeling of "being cold". Corn is also high in fat. While extra fat in the body might be a good thing during the winter, too much visceral fat can cause egg laying issues. Some hens when processed carry an incredible amount of deep yellow visceral fat from a diet too high in treats, scratch grains with the large amount of corn being the chief offender.

Hi I tried to give while dried corn and even mixed it with warm oatmeal and soaked the corn with some goji berries off my bushes. They didn't touch it. I live in NM and temps are 70 during the day and then in the 40s overnight. So now I have this huge bag of corn and I have no idea what I should do with it because they don't like it should I ground it up somehow and give it to them that way or should I try something else I would love to know what you think because you sound like you have been around for awhile. I understand it doesn't have very many nutritional value or anything like that but I just have heard to feed them corn in the evening so I would very much appreciate if you would let me know what you think and give me some tips for this winter I would love it thank you so much I hope you have a blessed day

 

[Trishamn]

Hi I tried to give while dried corn and even mixed it with warm oatmeal and soaked the corn with some goji berries off my bushes. They didn't touch it. I live in NM and temps are 70 during the day and then in the 40s overnight. So now I have this huge bag of corn and I have no idea what I should do with it because they don't like it should I ground it up somehow and give it to them that way or should I try something else I would love to know what you think because you sound like you have been around for awhile. I understand it doesn't have very many nutritional value or anything like that but I just have heard to feed them corn in the evening so I would very much appreciate if you would let me know what you think and give me some tips for this winter I would love it thank you so much I hope you have a blessed day

I've heard that you give them corn in winter and it keeps them warm. My birds are so picky, do they normally eat goji berries? Today mine picked out all the leftover kale that I had mixed into it. My birds love warm oatmeal, maybe just add some of the corn to the oatmeal and see how that goes.

 

[Gojichicken]

Flock blocks are very high in fat. I choose not to use them. As for corn or oats and the theory that they will keep the birds warmer in the winter, many threads have gone around and around about this topic, causing (pardon my pun) heated debates! A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. As long as the birds have good nutrition, they will be fine in the winter. Chicken feed is high in corn and other grains, so the assumption that giving them extra grains, either whole or cracked will make them warmer in the winter just does not make sense to me. And for that matter, when a body digests a large meal, a lot of peripheral blood gets diverted to the digestive system to distribute the digested nutrients, resulting in a temporary feeling of "being cold". Corn is also high in fat. While extra fat in the body might be a good thing during the winter, too much visceral fat can cause egg laying issues. Some hens when processed carry an incredible amount of deep yellow visceral fat from a diet too high in treats, scratch grains with the large amount of corn being the chief offender.

 

[Gojichicken]

I've heard that you give them corn in winter and it keeps them warm. My birds are so picky, do they normally eat goji berries? Today mine picked out all the leftover kale that I had mixed into it. My birds love warm oatmeal, maybe just add some of the corn to the oatmeal and see how that goes.

I guess my post was a little confusing. I gave them a mixture of warm oatmeal the goji berries fresh off the Bush and soaked the berries and corn together. I gave it to them and they ate everything but the corn. They get plenty of greens and love their dried oats in the a.m. and p.m. but won't touch the corn. This morning it was 37 degrees and this winter might get a lot colder.
How should I soak the corn, in boiling water? I fed them warm oatmeal with bananas at 4 yesterday to sustain them for the night. Their happy and healthy girls and so is the Roo, I just want to make sure they stay that way.

 

[lazy gardener]

My birds do fine on their regular diet of layer FF with winter temps often down to below 0*F for days at a time. I do give them sprouted grains/seeds b/c they do not have access to yard greens in the winter.

 

[Trishamn]

I guess my post was a little confusing. I gave them a mixture of warm oatmeal the goji berries fresh off the Bush and soaked the berries and corn together. I gave it to them and they ate everything but the corn. They get plenty of greens and love their dried oats in the a.m. and p.m. but won't touch the corn. This morning it was 37 degrees and this winter might get a lot colder.
How should I soak the corn, in boiling water? I fed them warm oatmeal with bananas at 4 yesterday to sustain them for the night. Their happy and healthy girls and so is the Roo, I just want to make sure they stay that way.

someone posted on here that she makes corn cakes and then puts maple syrup on them. Some days my birds eat better than I do!

 

[Chullicken]

Mine ate a lot less when I used to let them out for the day. They didn't gain as much weight which is for me, a lot harder to maintain when penned up in a run. However, having said that..at some point your free ranging flock will start feeding the local wildlife. Some don't put as much thought into it as others like myself. So after 'learning' yet again the cycle of country life, I now keep mine penned up and work my fingers to the bone when I get home finding edible greens and left over compost material to keep them occupied. Plus, I throw in a shovel or two of earth with grass on it so they can scratch away for an hour. Most of my flock consist of Sex Links, as my other varieties fell prey to something out there in the wilds. I've noticed they get rather aggressive if they think there will be a food shortage or the type they have available..never ends the bickering.