Protein for diet advice

[RennaeHanson]

I feed an organic layer mash that I get from Tuscon Organic Co-op, it has no corn and no soy and it's actually cheaper than if you purchase feed from the store. I supplement scraps from the house or fruits/veggies that are getting a bit old for my use; occasionally I'll give them meal worms or other treats but these are treats, not daily feed. I also give them scratch a few times a week and oyster shell. I keep an eye on my chickens and so far they have all done very well on this plan. My chickens have a huge fenced/covered yard so they have plenty of room to move around in...I would love to let them free range but I have hawks and owls that live in my pine trees and coyotes that roam my neighborhood and wouldn't hesitate to snatch up a free meal. I hope this is helpful, good luck and welcome to BYC!

 

[mopalia]

FWIW, I got frustrated by the inability of our local feed stores (4 within 10 miles of me) to keep flock raiser pellets in stock. I just ordered Kalmbach's 20% Flock Raiser pellets from Chewy and the delivery was fast. That's it, I'm done chasing around from feed store to feed store or spending 20 minutes on the phone to discover that everyone is out of stock. FWIW, if you can't find what you want, look online.

 

[Peggsblueinc]

Hey yall, my wife and I are newbie chicken owners but we wanted y'all's input on protein... we currently feed our 19 chickens the following

16% protein layer feed (country companion 50 LB)

Cracked corn (country companion 50 LB)

Scratch grains (country companion 50 LB)

Black oil sunflower seeds (50 LB)

black soldier fly larvae (10 LB)

Oyster shells (50 LB, we feed them free choice separate)

All of this is mixed together in one bucket evenly and fed daily from the bucket

My question for yall is we're interested in ditching the mealworms if we can supplement that loss of protein by shifting from a 16% layer feed to 21% layer feed and what the implications might be if we take the mealworms out of their diet (I'd also like to begin transitioning them away from crumble and to pellets as pellets tend to be cheaper and unfortunately it is hard to find decently priced 21% crumbles where we live)

This would save us $39 every time we get feed for our gals.

Any advice is much appreciated !

Just feed them the pellets. 16% should be good. All the other stuff should be treats. They get their nutrients from it. The sunflowers seeds are ok. I give mine pellets. Crack corn for treat around 3 times week. Meal worms are also I treat. Oyster shell on the side whenever they need it. My hens are free run so they get bugs forging around. Now that it’s winter not so much that’s why 3 times a week. Don’t forget all your scrapes from veggies you eat. While I’m preparing my meals all the scrapes I cut in smaller pieces and give to them. Have fun