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

 

[ChookaPete]

My chooks free-range across both the backyard and front yard - plenty of grass, insects, and whatever goodies they find in the soil.

I have a feeder barrel in the front yard filled with layer pellets, and a treadle feeder box near their coop (under cover) filled with mixed grain (includes sunflower seeds and corn).

Usually each morning I eat oatmeal with chopped apple - so the chooks get pieces of the apple core and bits of the apple as a treat. They love it!

If I have been out and got takeaway chips, then I save the chips to give to the chooks as an occasional treat.

When I have eaten too many eggs and cannot give any more away, then I boil them up and feed them too the chooks. They love tucking into the yolks.

And for an extra protein boost my chooks catch the occasional mouse!

 

[FrostRanger]

I second kalmbach flock raiser being a good feed. My flock of 7 layers has been eating it since they were 3 1/2 weeks old and they've done wonderfully on it. It comes in both crumbles and pellets, I get the pellets as I detest crumbles due to how messy they are, I'll only give very young chicks crumble and switch them as soon as possible. How I transition birds from crumbles to pellets is I mix in some pellets with their crumbles. At first they'll eat around it but eventually someone will get curious and eat the pellets and realize it's food. All the extra mix ins you've been adding are unnecessary and counterproductive. They only need their regular feed and water. The only extras they need are oyster shell and grit on the side (both in their own containers). If you want to try kalmbach's flock raiser and can't find it locally, chewy has it at a pretty good price

 

[EmmaDonovan]

As you are new to raising birds, please don't take this the wrong way.

You taking a feed intended to barely meet their nutritional recommended minimums (for adult layers, whose needs are lower than growing birds), then adding a bunch of stuff which further reduces its nutritional value (corn, scratch, BOSS), then trying to "fix" the problems introduced by adding BSFL, a high cost, high fat (BOSS, Scratch, Corn are ALSO high fat). High fat is its own problem. BOSS is also often more expensive than a nutritionally superior complete feed.

Whomever gave you that advice is someone whose opinion you should discount in the future.

Find a good All Flock pellet, buy it, feed it to your birds. Offer oyster shell on the side. No muss, no fuss.

How do they make the pellets? Are they heated? Do your chickens also free-range?

 

[Vicker]

If you don't have roosters, layer feed as a staple diet is fine. If your birds don't have the opportunity to free-range, you can give them occasional scratch, scraps or mealworms as a boredom buster. I like Naturewise all-flock for my layers and roosters. It has probiotics and yummy smelling herb oils. Oyster shell is offered on the side for the girls. Mine free range, so I really don't have to give them anything extra. They get scraps sometimes, and I do offer scratch during the winter for a little extra fat store.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

How do they make the pellets? Are they heated? Do your chickens also free-range?

Pellets are usually made in either an extruder (shooting it out like a spaghetti noodle) or a press - heat is incidental to both processes.

My chickens free range, yes. and I feed them in way I don't recommend others do - something I try to be forthright about - but I believe I understand enough about feeding birds that I can intelligently weigh the risks of feeding them as I do. Also, I have a frequent check to see how they are doing (apart from obvious behaviors, feather and body condition, egg quality). I open them up and look inside. Then eat.

Obviously not the best method for most.