Cat food

[ccm]

Don't forget that most of the commercially made feed was and pretty much still is aimed at the commercially farmed hybrids and dosent suit some of the purebred fancy fowl around today.

My D'Anvers fair very well on breeders pellets, CLO and wheat but some of you would probably have a fit if you saw what i feed my Pekins to get them into show condition :lol:

 

[Sue]

Cat food is cooked so won't resemble flesh and won't have that much protein in it compared to maggots. It's very cheap and to hand if you have a cat I suppose. The thought of a chicken having fishy breath!! They used to feed hens a very tiny portion of raw minced beef during problems in the moult says Lewis Wright in 1867. Maggots are good for cleansing the crop as well, because the hens eat them alive and they wriggle about.

So I think we will pass on the cat food and stick to maggots.

That's how I give my hens their antibiotics - raw minced beef with the antibiotics and then Poultry Spice mixed in to disguise the taste!

 

[Sue]

Seldom, if ever, do birds need a 'boost of protein', even during or after the moult and in my opinion may well be the cause of many of the health problems that occur with 'pet' chickens, most of which are not productive enough to warrant feeding even layers rations on a daily basis.

Those who have ambitions in the show world and those who want to make 'extreme pets' of their birds will not want to take on board anything I have to say but those who keep a few hens because they enjoy them and for home produced eggs or even meat, just might, which is why I keep bashing away !

Chuck, feeding my Wyandotte cat food/minced beef is what saved her when she had her 'drunk/wobbly' episode after being broody for so long and then moulting. It was definitely a lack of protein that was causing her problems.

 

[Emchicks]

I've always found fish based catfood good in the past to keep condition on some of my show birds and it has definitely helped birds regrow feathers through the moult so will be sticking with it in small quantities when needed. As lordcluck says, jungle fowl would have access to all sorts of other foodstuffs if in the wild. It's interesting to see some really strong opinions on this subject though, I don't feel this way just because I show some of my birds though.
Em

 

[Chuck]

I'm sure you know best Sue.

I've known since I was a kid that chickens are omnivors and are very catholic in their tastes but their natural meat meals don't come in the from of prcoessed cat food or worse, uncooked beef mince !

 

[Sue]

I'm sure you know best Sue.

I've known since I was a kid that chickens are omnivors and are very catholic in their tastes but their natural meat meals don't come in the from of prcoessed cat food or worse, uncooked beef mince !

I don't know if I know best Chuck, I only know what worked for me!