I moved them outside at 2 weeks. Yay or nay?

[BDutch]

Scratch is chicken candy, a mix of seeds and other tasty tidbits.

Its not just candy, its supplement food for chickens as well. In my country it contains all kind of grains, seeds and pieces of corn.

Normal chickens (not the factory hybrids) that truly free range in a field with plenty of food just need what they find and its common practice to give them a few handfuls of scratch in the evening so they can roost with a full crop.

It’s true scratch is a treat for chickens that are locked up. If you have a heavy breed that is not active, the chickens get too fat if you give much scratch.

 

[BDutch]

Still have tons of flies. I used the traps but that only attracts more flies. I’ve seen some homemade fly repellant recipes. Just wondering if anyone tried any and had any luck?

Be careful not to poison your chicks.

If you take away the poop a few times a day, there is less food for flies.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Its not just candy, its supplement food for chickens as well. In my country it contains all kind of grains, seeds and pieces of corn.

Normal chickens (not the factory hybrids) that truly free range in a field with plenty of food just need what they find and its common practice to give them a few handfuls of scratch in the evening so they can roost with a full crop.

It’s true scratch is a treat for chickens that are locked up. If you have a heavy breed that is not active, the chickens get too fat if you give much scratch.

Scratch lacks the extra vitamins and minerals that would get added to constitute feed in the US. So while a little bit is okay (just like eating a little cake or candy is okay), some folks get heavy handed with how much they give.

OP is not free ranging in open pastures with varied forage. The chickens are being housed in a side yard in what looks like a suburban neighborhood: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...weeks-yay-or-nay.1617836/page-2#post-27638875 With only 4 chickens, a "few handfuls" of scratch daily would be excessive in such a setting.

 

[NatJ]

Scratch lacks the extra vitamins and minerals that would get added to constitute feed in the US. So while a little bit is okay (just like eating a little cake or candy is okay), some folks get heavy handed with how much they give.

OP is not free ranging in open pastures with varied forage. The chickens are being housed in a side yard in what looks like a suburban neighborhood: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...weeks-yay-or-nay.1617836/page-2#post-27638875 With only 4 chickens, a "few handfuls" of scratch daily would be excessive in such a setting.

At some point in the past, in the USA, some people used a feeding system that did incorporate scratch. They used a concentrated "mash" feed (high protein, vitamins, minerals), and gave a certain amount of scratch each day as well. In that case, the scratch was an important part of the total diet. The total result was about the same as the all-in-one feeds that are common now, but it was in two parts rather than mixed together into one.

I don't know of any reasonable source of feeds that are designed to be used with some amount of scratch, at the present time, unless someone is making it themselves or working with a feed mill to get a custom recipe.

For chickens that do eat a complete feed, and do not have much or any access to free range, I agree that adding scratch is not helpful and can cause problems. The chickens could get fat (scratch + feed = too many calories) or could lack some nutrients (scratch instead of feed = missing nutrients), or both.