feeding chickens

[Celice]

I've got my hens on a scratch grain and layer feed food right now but I'd like to get them off it. Is there any other grain that I could be feeding them that is not corn?

thanks!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

MaggieJ feeds oats and barley I believe.

 

[Celice]

MaggieJ feeds oats and barley I believe.

Okay! I'll be getting that next time and see how they do on it! Thanks!!!

 

[DBA]

If you have space for them to free range, you won't need to feed them much at all. They will seek out seeds, weeds, insects, worms, etc. But, freeranging on a manicured lawn won't cut it either.

 

[MaggieJ]

MaggieJ feeds oats and barley I believe.

Not to the chickens. Barley is not particularly good for chickens . . . something about it's digestibility. You could certainly feed oats and wheat, but if they are free ranging they will not need too much, at least during the growing season. My standard free range hens get the same layer crumbs as MidnightCoder's penned Silkies -- just less of it.

There's lots of information available on natural feeding for chickens. There is that book, title is something like Feeding Chickens and Rabbits on Scraps. They can be fed fodder. And these sites have some interesting ideas:
http://www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Sprouting.html
http://www.makeitmissoula.com/2012/07/e ... cken-feed/

 

[Celice]

oats and wheat. Got it! They do but not often I like to keep an eye on them when I let them out. The dogs terrorized them as chicks and killed quite a few.

 

[Rainey]

We're feeding our hens and pullets oats and wheat and sunflower seeds. The pullets are in a moveable coop with access to a compost pile from one side and to a run that moves to be on fresh ground every few days on the other. We also give them minnows from our pond and offal when we butcher rabbits. The Japanese beetles have shown up recently and we pick them off into a jug of water which is then dumped into a shallow pan in the pullet's area and they gobble them up.
This way of feeding is new to us. We got the pullets as chicks at the end of March and are waiting to see when (or if) they start laying on this diet. Too many predators to allow them to free range.