Feed Amount

Sunbee · #1 07/01/12, 11:51 AM

We have 20 remaining young Buff Orpingtons (no thanks to skunk and dog). They are a couple months old and free range. We make scratch available, as the feed store said once they had feathers instead of fluff we could stop feeding starter, but scratch is a lot more expensive than grasshoppers, earwigs, and grass seeds. I'm just not sure how much to make available. They all run to eat the scratch up as soon as it's out, but is that because they're hungry or lazy? Obviously it's easier for them to scarf out of the feeder than it is for them to hunt up their food.

Cliff · #2 07/01/12, 12:08 PM

Imo at 8 weeks they should still be getting starter/grower. Scratch doesn't have much protein. It's more of a treat thing - starchy empty calories. They need protein for growth - they'll take longer to grow and start laying without enough protein. I'd feed them all the starter they want plus let them free range.

Was just thinking that in the old days the scratch type feeds plus free ranging would've been all they got. It won't hurt them to continue what you're doing they'll just take longer to mature. But I'm thinking that starter/grower probably isn't much more expensive than scratch?

pancho · #3 07/01/12, 01:44 PM

Reminds me of what they told me at the feed store last week.
I asked for a couple bags of game bird starter. The clerk had to go back in the back and ask if they had any. When she came back she said they were out but they would bring me a couple sacks of scratch as it was the same thing.

Don't ever trust anyone working in a feed store to decide what you should feed.

Bearfootfarm · #4 07/01/12, 01:48 PM

They should get starter feed until they start to lay, and "scratch feed" is like the junk food of all feeds.

Then hey need LAYER feed if you want the best egg production

Sunbee · #5 07/01/12, 04:42 PM

They aren't gonna get starter feed at four times the cost for a year! They won't lay until next spring anyway, we aren't putting them under lights and they'll be too young to start before short days set in. They aren't going to get layer feed either--no sense having them at that price. I don't need the best egg production, I need cheap, decent eggs. I wouldn't feed them anything all summer if I could be sure they could find enough on their own. Could they eat lentils or some other bean for extra protein? 50# of dry beans are cheaper than 50# of starter.
I was going to plant some corn for them--missed the week this year. Is there something else, something very short season, I can grow for them next summer? Almost half are destined for the stew pot this fall: all the cockerels but one or two. Hope to get to the point where they're not needing anything from off the place.

Cliff · #6 07/01/12, 06:16 PM

Well in the old days they would've gotten corn or whatever grain was prevalent in the area and free ranged and that's it. Generally their numbers were pared down over winter so as to have less to feed. They'd keep a few good mama hens and a roo and let them raise more in the spring/summer. I remember sometimes roadkill would be hung up for them to eat on. That wouldn't be so bad in the colder months and would help with protein with bugs being unavailable.

Since you seem to be very practical have you ever looked at something like producing maggots for protein?

How about field peas? Easy to grow, do well in heat and dry, mature in abt 60-70 days and are heavy producers. You wouldn't even need to shell them out, just pick the dried pods into bags and dole them out as needed.

Root crops can also be used as a supplement.

Chickens won't range as far from the coop as guineas will, I'm not sure 20 growing birds can get all their protein needs from the area they will range. You could research that I'd think.

Lentils should work fine I would think. Can you really get 50 lbs of lentils for less than 50 lbs of starter? A 50 lb bag of starter is abt $12 here, bag of corn is $8, scratch is $9, layer pellets are $9. So here if we have to have bought feed it might as well be a complete one since just corn or scratch are almost as much or the same price.

Sunbee · #7 07/01/12, 09:13 PM

Yeah, starter's just over $20, layer's even higher. Scratch is $5.
They're eating the flowering sweet pea pods I just saw when I was out hanging laundry. That's cool--those aren't good for anything else, I mean, the flowers are pretty and smell nice, but the peas aren't good to eat as far as I know.
I'll look into field peas. So long as I don't have to weed too much . . .

MO_cows · #8 07/01/12, 10:24 PM

They will still start to lay before spring, they just won't lay as much. At least that has been our experience with "late chicks" who matured in the winter.

Our feed store didn't carry any "starter" that wasn't medicated, so we put our pullets that are about 8 weeks on an "all flock" poultry feed with 18% protein. They also get let out to free range now, so they are helping themselves to the laying mash too. It has been so dry here the foraging isn't very good right now.

Bearfootfarm · #9 07/02/12, 12:48 AM

Quote:

They aren't gonna get starter feed at four times the cost for a year! They won't lay until next spring anyway,

It shouldn't take them a year to start laying

"Scratch" is usually less than 10% protein, and starter should be at least 20%

You can feed them what you want, but what they NEED is good nutrition if you want good egg production.

Quote:

Yeah, starter's just over $20, layer's even higher. Scratch is $5.

You get what you pay for.

Cliff · #10 07/02/12, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunbee

Yeah, starter's just over $20, layer's even higher. Scratch is $5.
They're eating the flowering sweet pea pods I just saw when I was out hanging laundry. That's cool--those aren't good for anything else, I mean, the flowers are pretty and smell nice, but the peas aren't good to eat as far as I know.
I'll look into field peas. So long as I don't have to weed too much . . .

Lol if you grow things you have to weed. The options are usually to either pay for it or work your butt off to grow it

You can grow field peas in wide rows or beds of 3 rows spaced about a foot apart though - leaving enough room to get a stirrup hoe between the "rows." Then when they grow and fill in they shade the weeds out for the most part. That way you only have to weed a couple times till they get bigger. Easier than growing in single rows for the amount you get for sure.

BUT I do remember in the old days dad would just disc up a field and broadcast sow field peas. Didn't do much to them till harvest time. We might have pulled a few weeds here and there but for the most part did nothing. They made a ton of peas even that way. A lot of the old timers grew peas that way.

pancho · #11 07/02/12, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunbee

Yeah, starter's just over $20, layer's even higher. Scratch is $5.
They're eating the flowering sweet pea pods I just saw when I was out hanging laundry. That's cool--those aren't good for anything else, I mean, the flowers are pretty and smell nice, but the peas aren't good to eat as far as I know.
I'll look into field peas. So long as I don't have to weed too much . . .

Around here starter is about $15 and layer is $11. Scratch is around $11 also.

Sunbee · #12 07/02/12, 09:57 AM

I've got too much weedy garden as it is--not enough time.

I've been told by a friend near here that has a couple hens (she's in town) that she has to put lights on to get eggs in the late winter/early spring.
I'll have to find someone in Fish and Game to ask about road kill. Don't want them claiming we're poaching.

dlskidmore · #13 07/02/12, 11:42 AM

If you don't want to spend money and you don't want to work to grow feed, then you've got to keep few enough chickens to be able to feed them on human scraps.

PaulNKS · #14 07/02/12, 10:50 PM

I have Black Australorps and used to always have Buff Orpingtons. I rarely give them any feed. They follow the cows, goats, etc. and do a lot of scratching in the piles. In the winter, I give them cracked corn and some oyster shell. But, my birds range year round and I get almost an egg per day per bird (except in winter.)

If they are free range and you have plenty room, vegetation, bugs, they will get plenty nutrition to lay.

I heard an old timer once say that laying mash wears a hen out long before her time. He refused to feed it. He felt it made the hen too old too soon. I sort of agree with him.

P.S. I feed no grit. Since they are outside, they pick up plenty of it on their own.

mozarkian · #15 07/03/12, 12:42 AM

We feed cheap and get beautiful deep red/orange yolked eggs. Flock consists of 15 chickens, 2 roosters, a pair of turkeys and their young, 5 guineaus and a pair of ducks. We feed no egg pellets, or grower--I don't like the way eggs taste from chickens fed those things, no different than store bought eggs IMO.
Instead they get a large pan of clabber or buttermilk every day, veggie and bread scraps, and a large coffee can of half whole corn and half wheat. They are let out at daybreak and free range, over cow pasture, yards, orchard,pig pens and barns. In winter, we double the grain and give them however much leafy hay they can clean up each day. We don't use a light in winter, but do button up the hen house and put a thick layer of straw on the floor for extra insulation and to keep their feet warm. Production stays pretty consistent, and we haven't had to buy eggs in years. Even though we have a few old, semi-retired ladies who are just there for their looks. We plan to add 6 hens this year.
I always feel like they are getting enough supplemental grain if they are cleaning up most of it every day with just a few stray kernals left.

Cliff · #16 07/03/12, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunbee

I've got too much weedy garden as it is--not enough time.

I've been told by a friend near here that has a couple hens (she's in town) that she has to put lights on to get eggs in the late winter/early spring.
I'll have to find someone in Fish and Game to ask about road kill. Don't want them claiming we're poaching.

Hens naturally molt their feathers and grow new ones as the days get shorter in the fall. They need new feathers for the winter. The day length triggers molting hormonally. The hens seriously slow down on laying during the time they're growing new feathers. Some people will put a light in their coop on a timer so the hens don't go into a molt so they will keep laying. It's hard on the hens as they don't get the normal rest time from laying that they'd get if left alone. Plus fresh new feathers makes the winter easier on them. But the people that do the lighting thing usually replace their layers every year or two.

We don't use lighting. We try to let our animals live as natural a life as possible. The hens last longer that way. I just realized the other day that we have a couple 5 yr old hens and one 6 yr old who are still laying a few eggs a week. Anyway, doing it the natural way we are short of eggs basically in nov and dec. When the days start getting longer in jan the hens start laying again.

This just works better for us as we try our best to be sustainable. If you want to let the hens raise their own replacements and raise some for meat for you you get to know who the dependable mothers are if you keep them around for more than one year.

Cindy in PA · #17 07/07/12, 08:56 PM

My hens have always molted based on age. A hen will lay for a year or more before molting, so they molt at 17-20 months depending on how good a layer they are. Hens that were hatched in April, started laying in September & molted from Sept.-Nov the next year. Hens hatched in July, started laying in November and molted Nov-Jan the next year. This is my experience over 19 years. I do use lights from Aug 15th until May 15th and it has never kept them from going into molts at their appointed time. I am not sure where " all hens molt in the fall" comes from. This hasn't been my experience.