Throwing food onto the ground - good or bad??

[NatJ]

My coop is one of those "prefab" for 12 chickens or so...it's really not much but sleeping quarters and laying areas - so putting food in there isn't really an alternative

You could use a chicken feeder (or a bird feeder!) outside the coop. It could keep the feed off the ground, and you'd have the option to bring it indoors at night so nothing else eats the feed. It could hang from a tree or from a post, sit on a stand, attach to a fence, or perhaps sit directly on the ground--depends on the style of feeder, and on what is available. Hanging feeders often work really well, because you can adjust the height so the chickens cannot scratch feed out with their feet (but can still reach easily to eat.)

It sounds like a lot of the feed is getting wasted (not eaten by the chickens), so a feeder might also save you money on feed.

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

my chickens prefer the food just thrown out on the ground (in certain areas) where they can scratch and peck on it during the day. However, when it rains, yuk, and in the sun mold can occur, so all the food has to be turned into the soil or shoveled away and I have to move the feeding spot. Do any of you have positive experience with long-term feeding chickens on the ground?

thanks

We usually do that here in the Philippines, yeah... They seem to prefer that, but it doesn't harm to put it in a feeding tray aswell..

 

[Shadrach]

I don't know. Sometimes I think the chickens here must be a different species.
The chickens here spend a major of their lives with their beaks in the ground, in the donkey shite, the sheep shite, the compost heap, every pile of anything that looks remotely interesting. I put commercial feed in bowls for my convenience and to some extent, to help discourage rodents.
They scratch it out more often than not and eat it off the ground.
I was discussing the feed bowls with barking Bracket one day; she's a scratch it far and wide fan. She happened to mention that she isn't a woodpecker and the bowls give her a headache.
My belief is that if eating from the ground posed such high health risks the species would have died out centuries ago. Of course, if you have contained chickens in small areas then the ground needs maintaining.
It is also my belief that chickens build up immunities to many of the pathogens in their environment if they are allowed to explore that environment. If you keep chickens in a scrubbed stainless steel box and then let them out onto natural ground many will die within weeks because they haven't built any immunity.

 

[Chickassan]

If it is mess that concerns you then trick the chickens into thinking you've done what they want.
All it takes is a big,shallow plant saucer or shallow pot.
Just scatter the "ground" food in one and they'll be satisfied and you wont have a nasty mess aaaaand best part less waste!

 

[NatJ]

My belief is that if eating from the ground posed such high health risks the species would have died out centuries ago.

I agree--but serving chicken feed in a feeder can help avoid the problems OP mentioned (smell, mold). And a feeder can reduce waste. To me, waste is food that was bought, that was not eaten by the chickens. I wouldn't want to limit how much food the chickens get, just limit how much is spoiling on the ground or being eaten by the earthworms and the squirrels and the deer and so forth.

 

[Curtisclan]

my chickens prefer the food just thrown out on the ground (in certain areas) where they can scratch and peck on it during the day. However, when it rains, yuk, and in the sun mold can occur, so all the food has to be turned into the soil or shoveled away and I have to move the feeding spot. Do any of you have positive experience with long-term feeding chickens on the ground?

thanks

That’s the only way I feed my chickens. I regularly cover the run and coop with fresh straw tho

 

[Chickassan]

Ok, I have to say OP cannot simply feed on the ground where they live and it not get ghastly awful.
Im a state below so I know exactly what they are talking about.
Yuck is right!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Ok, I have to say OP cannot simply feed on the ground where they live and it not get ghastly awful.
Im a state below so I know exactly what they are talking about.
Yuck is right!

I agree 100%. I'm in NC, same as OP, and the weather has been messy. So much rain and temps all over the place. I'd definitely suggest a feeder of some sort over letting them scratch it around and waste so much. Mold is a HUGE problem with the amount of rain we've had and will be getting. I figure something out Stat or be sure to stay on top of any moldy feed.

 

[blackandtan]

For me it depends on the food.
Mine have a huge hanging feeder of crumbles; this way they get enough to eat, it stays dry, squirrels don’t like it (but the dog does!). I’d never put crumbs on the ground because it gets wet so fast and turns into a stinky filthy mess that can’t be any good for them.
They get a little scoop of scratch and veg leftovers for breakfast, it gives them something to do and helps till the litter in the run while they look for any lost bits.
I don’t worry about parasites or diseases from them foraging and scratching because I know I keep their area fairly clean, and all my critters get dewormed regularly for the benefit of all. I guess the system works cause I’ve never seen bumblefoot and haven’t lost anything to disease.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I throw out scratch as a treat too once a week. But i keep their daily feed in the coop to reduce the attraction of rodents and predators