Chicken Feed
Chicken Feeds 101 - A Basic
Guide by Nathalie Ross
When I first started with
chickens, in my adult life (versus when I was younger and mom bought the
feed) the first people that I asked about how to properly feed my chickens
were the feedstore clerks.
Who better to know feed
right?
Well unfortunately feedstore
clerks aren't always the best people to tell you how to feed your flock.
Mine sent me home with a big ol' bag of scratch. When my birds lost their
vigor, and their plumage didn't grow in as well as when I bought them, I
realized that something wasn't right and decided to investigate feeds. I'm
glad I did! Now I'm going to pass on some information to you, the very basics,
to help you understand how to make your own feed decisions and what your
options are.
A healthy bird results in
part from receiving a balanced ration of minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates,
fats, proteins, etc. If they free range or are on the ground, they have the
ability to choose some of these nutrients from the environment around them;
proteins from bugs and better grains, minerals from the earth, vitamins from
the grasses and the plants, and so forth.
However, the poultry that
we now keep aren't the wild birds that once could survive in the wild on
their own without feed. Our birds have been bred over the years to lay more
eggs, grow faster, put on more meat, all of which require more nutrients
than they can usually get walking around our yards alone.
So we buy feed to make sure
our birds have everything they need in order to give us everything WE need
from it, be it meat and eggs, or the enjoyment of having lovely birds. When
you buy feeds, you'll generally have three choices: pellets (and crumbles),
grains, or combinations of the two.
PELLETS and CRUMBLES
Pelleted feeds (or their crumbled counterparts) are considered a "complete
feed" because they often not only contain ingrediants like grains and protein,
but also vitamins and minerals that a bird needs. They are the result of
research into poultry nutrition and their use is usually stated on the label
for your convenience.
Laying feeds are designed
for birds to replace nutrients used during lay, or to enhance production.
Growth and Starter feeds are designed for non-adult poultry. Breeder feeds
are both for egg production with enhanced calcium/D3/phosphorus for eggshells,
as well as nutrients for fertility, etc. The label tells you for what the
feed is designed, and usually, for what age of bird as well.
ALL-GRAIN FEEDS All-grain
feeds, like scratch, don't have a "supplement package" in them. "Supplement
packages" are pellets that contain vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.
All grain feeds are designed either to make adjustments to a complete feed,
to be used in combination with a Supplement Package by experienced poultrymen,
or to be used (in the case of scratch) as a treat that you toss into the
bedding to encourage the chickens to "scratch" around and fluff and aerate
the bedding for you.
If you use an all grain feed
for any reason, be sure that you've really studied your nutrition. It's best
that you have a few years under your belt before undertaking this.
SCRATCH Scratch itself
is a combination of milo and two other of the cheapest grains on the market
at the time. It has no supplement package as it's an all grain feed. It's
usually very low in protein, as cheap grains often are, and will take down
the vital protein level of your feed very easily. It will also dilute the
effect of the Supplement package by diluting your feed. As far as using it
to fatten chickens, horse oats and/or corn oil are a much better choice.
COMBINATION FEEDS These
are feeds that contain mostly grains but have pellets in them as well. A
good example of this is Game Cock Feed which has corn, peas, wheat or oats,
milo, and other grains as well as a Supplement Package. In the case of Game
Cock feeds, it is a "complete feed" and designed to essentially meet most
all of a rooster's nutritional needs. It's not fortified with calcium for
layers, but we'll talk more about that under "SUPPLEMENTS". These feeds can
satisfy our desire to feed grains (because the chicken doesn't HAVE to have
them in their whole feed) without compromising the quality of nutrition.
SUPPLEMENTS In the
best feeds, you'll often find (in the confusing language of the ingredients
section) other products designed to encourage thriftiness of your bird and
digestion of all the nutrients of the feed. One such bonus ingredient is
the end products that gut bacteria make that in turn feed your bird or help
digest feed. Those end products are usually listed as "_________ fermentaion
product" or "_________ end product" with the blank being filled by a specific
bacteria name like L. acidophilus, etc. This is a great addition to your
feed!
CALCIUM: A laying or
breeding feed will often contain a higher percentage of calcium than other
feeds (somewhere around 1%). Theoretically you can go without any additional
calcium while using those feeds. However, I find it's best to offer the option
for your adult or laying age females the opportunity to decide how much calcium
they need on their own. In all cases, giving them free choice calcium supplements
like Oyster Shell will help them. You're not adding it into the feed and
risking too much calcium, which can cause everything from pimples on the
eggs to, in the extreme cases, an inability to absorb vitamins, fats and
other nutrients... Instead, you're allowing the hens to pick and choose on
their own. I keep mine in a separate rubber pan, or toss it out onto the
ground. Calcium alone isn't enough for birds, so their complete feed should
contain D vitamins and phophorus to help the calcium get absorbed.
GRIT: Pelleted and
crumble feeds are designed to break down within the chicken's digestive system
without the need of additional grit to grind the feed. In a situation where
the bird is only caged and receives no other feeds (treats, grains, etc)
this would work. However, most of ours aren't in that type of environment.
So, it's always best if you offer your birds free choice grit. If they don't
need much they won't take much. However, if they need it and don't have it
you will end up with impacted crops which have the potential to kill a chicken.
So considering the low cost of grit it's a good thing to have on hand. Oyster
shell will not serve as grit as it dissolves in the 'stomach' of the bird
before it goes to the gizzard. Instead, try sand for babies, and poultry
or pigeon grit for adult birds. Even if your birds free range, hedge your
bet and provide them grit. You'll not know when they need a particular size
of grit to grind their feed. I like to just feed mine free choice with the
oyster shell. I add more about once a week to once a month.
WHAT ELSE?
To make sure your chickens
get all the benefits of their fresh feed, there are two other considerations:
freshness and storage.
FRESHNESS When you
purchase your feeds, make sure it's from a feedstore (and the particular
feed as well) that has a high turnover. You don't want to take home a bag
that has dust from sitting there because the most important ingrediants tend
to lose their potency over a shorter time than you would think. How long
depends on how processed a feed is.
Everytime you get your feed
and empty it into a canister or scoop some up, you should take a moment to
sift through it. Give it a good feel, smell, and look-over. A fresh feed
will smell fresh - not odorless. It will not be dusty, and it will not have
clumps or mildew in it. Some feeds even come with a date of manufacture.
STORAGE Your storage
needs will vary depending upon what part of the country you're in, but there
are a few rules that apply everywhere. First, feed should be kept in a container
that is rodent proof to prevent the little thieves from emptying your pocketbook,
as well as keeping them from leaving their droppings (and disease) in your
feed supply.
The storage container and/or
location should also be dry and cool so that nutrients are made ineffective
by humidity and heat. Additionally, moisture can make foods mildew very quickly,
especially in combination with heat.
Also, make sure that your
feed store is doing their job of storing the feed properly before you buy
it. You don't have to inspect their storage, but simply examine the bag.
Check it carefully for holes that might be caused by weebles, or for watermarks
or stains that indicate that the bag was wet. I tend to stand by the truck
while the loader loads me up so that I can give a quick look at the bags
while they're going in the truck. That way if I see a nasty or ripped bag,
we can replace it right there without having to make another trip to the
feedstore.
Proper storage and freshness
of your feeds will help you to take advantage of almost the full nutritional
value of the feed that you've taken so much time to choose.
SUMMARY With a little
extra effort, you can take your birds from being just survivors to a beautiful,
healthy flock. As with everything, the quality of nutrients that you put
INTO your birds are going to reflect in the quality that you get out of them.
Being tempted to buy a cheaper quality of feed can cheat you in small ways
by causing you to have to feed more of it, or causing disease because of
nutritional deficiencies. Granted, you don't have to search for the most
expensive feed - just look for the most appropriate one. Your birds will
love you for it! +
Feed:
-
FISH
heads, tails, etc...
-
EGYPTIAN WHEAT (SHALLU) (just now planted in the run)
-
SESAME
-
Snails (the current favorite), Worms, Ants, etc...
-
Since there are some flys (about the same as a compost bin) I'm thinking
about adding semi-protected habitates for spiders and small frogs:
-
Fresh water.
-
Table scraps
-
Pasta with tomato sauce (they adore pasta)
-
Salad
-
Veggies (kids won't eat them, but I feel guilty if I don't make them, so...)
-
Pizza (as if! Kids never leave any for me.)
-
Bread
+
Benifical
Insects +
Comments:
Questions:
-
billisa~NOSPAM~ at ~NOSPAM~hotmail.com asks:
alls i have is one small chicken i found,what can i feed him (her?).and is having it in a big bird cage with a blanket ok? with its food in the same cage?
James Newton of James Newton's Massmind replies: There is an entire page listing feeds for Chickens above your comment on this page. And the bottom part of that lists many types of foods which are scraps from human food, so you wouldn't even need to buy something other than what you probably already eat.++
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