Feeding

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ajmellu7

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Hi guys. Am still very new to all this and wondering if you could help? Just wondering about the feed and feeding of the chickens. At the moment, I am giving them layers pellets and the odd cherry tomato and apples. I have put bits of cabbage and lettuce in but they always leave that. Is there anything I am not doing right, or anything else I could be giving them? Thanks in advance.
 
I'm a fairly newbie, had my hens for 18 months. I think what you're doing sounds fine, do you give them grit too?
I feed my hens decent layers pellets, which they have free access to, scratch mix or corn ( small handful in the afternoon) and some greens/apples/sweetcorn/peas as and when they are available.
Last winter I made a porridge with the pellets and warm water in the morning...with a few bits if sweetcorn and a few raisins...nothing fancy!
I'm not sure that filling hens full of "treats" is a good idea, I suppose I'm a bit old fashioned, but I've read on another forum the, in my opinion, junk food people feed their hens...leftover Chinese takeway? In my house the kids eat that anyway...:grin:
My girls like a good forage anyway, frogs and slugs.are favourites :|
 
Frogs Mollteaser, you are spoiling them! We don't give ours any leftovers as it's no good nuitritionally and just asking for sour crop problems. We give ours apple quarters occasionally and some of them love cabbage, others won't touch it. Plus a small scattering of mixed corn every day. Apples are at giveaway prices in late Autumn and worth getting from people with trees and storing. We store all ours in the cellar to feed the chickens over Winter and Spring. Real treat is sweetcorn-on-the-cob. They get slices of the ones the mice nibbled, we get the others (and the realy manky ones go for rat bait). White maggots are good for extra protein during the moult.

Don't forget the worming Ajmellu. Plenty of posts about that on the forum -search 'Flubenvet'.
 
Like I would .....:grin:

I have to catch my hen and remove an ENORMOUS toad from my light Sussex' beak and crop last summer, it was stuck fast and the legs were going like mad....poor thing....crawled away under the shed. The awful thing is the way my hens fight over a frog...anyway..that's Off topic!
My girls love a soggy windfall apple. :grin:
 
Hens will find and eat earthworms and slugs, and you can't do anything about that (except worm every 6 months with Flubenvet!) but don't give them any on purpose as a treat when you're gardening, as they may contain the eggs of various chicken worms which will make the worm burden worse.
 
The real problem with leftovers these days is that there is just too much of it for a few hens so it can unbalance the diet. I take a bag of mixed leftovers up to them every day but have to alternate who gets them so one pen will only get leftovers once a fortnight. Mine have anything except raw meat and cooked meat which I always understood to be illegal. However, if I dig, the hens have a great time picking out the livestock that I turn over.
Not being obsessed by worms, I don't mind if mine eat earthworms, slugs etc. Most species carry a certain number of worms without coming to harm.
Mine will eat any form of green leftovers and fruit is also much loved even if it's going off a bit. Everything needs to be kept in moderation and huge amounts of fruit thrown into the pen to lie around is not good practice.
Feeding chickens is not rocket science and you don't need to be too precise but with well balanced layers pellets available and a little mixed corn as a basis, there should be little danger of getting things wrong.
The birds most at risk, are those which are bred for very high production as they need a protein intake of around 17%. For odds and sods you have a lot more leeway.
 
I try not to feed too much in the way of treats. My dotte bantams have ad lib Garvo layers pellets plus a handful of Garvo Alfamix in the morning to scratch around for in the run and a handful of corn at bedtime. They love tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage as well but I only feed small amounts. Once every couple of weeks through the winter they have a small amount of plain cooked spaghetti sprinkled with Poultryspice or Nettex mineral powder. They free range on short grass every afternoon for a couple of hours. Fabulous hobby!! :D :-)08 :roll:
 
Thanks for the help guys. Have been and purchased some corn mix food this morning to supplement the layers pellets and will only give the apples and tomatoes every couple of weeks now that I know! Have just the 4 chickens and only 1 is laying so far, but hopefully there will be developments in that area soon with nicer weather and more sunlight!
 
Yes two of mine who had been 'on holiday' since the end of October suddenly decided yesterday that Spring was here and produced an egg each! Now up to 3 out of 4, and hoping!
 
the only thing mine dont eat are tomatoes they hate them but they will eat anything esle a hung up extra large mmarrow works wonders for boredom { mine grow to the extreme } once a month they will get fresh soaked bread as a treat plus home made proper italian spagetti from one of my best egg buyers she likes to spoil them from time to time but apart from the fresh veg i grow them in the summer they dont get anything esle . unless its new years day then they get 2 large saucepans of boiled leftover peelings what i gave them this year was to much even for 24 birds :lol:
 
put the veggies on sticks in the ground or hanging off the fence, coop or a make shift stick hanger(we made one with a wood post with a hanging basket bracket). We put apples, cabbages(whole), lettuce(whole) on sticks and they go nuts :)
 
Chuck said:
Mine have anything except raw meat and cooked meat which I always understood to be illegal.
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:o :o Is this true Chuck? I use mince for worming for the 7 days and I assumed as chickens are omnivores that raw mince is pretty much like eating worms and grubs. I feed my dogs a raw diet so have plenty of human grade (British, high welfare, free range farmed!) mince that I freeze for for them for at least 2 weeks before I use it for them. I just nick some for the chickens at worming time.
 
I think its DEFRA guidelines, I think you're not really supposed to give them any cooked leftovers/meat. :o
 
pennyblack chooks said:
Oh that's OK then as I only use it raw. Thanks mollteaser. (need a 'PHEW' smiley)
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I've just been on the DEFRA website again, it states that the feeding of leftover fooddtuffs is illegal, including vegetables. But how does that stand on buying things to give hens. I can't find the page I want, because I'm on my phone...grr:evil:
 
pennyblack chooks said:
Oh that's OK then as I only use it raw. Thanks mollteaser. (need a 'PHEW' smiley)
Click to expand...
I've just been on the DEFRA website again, it states that the feeding of leftover fooddtuffs is illegal, including vegetables. But how does that stand on buying things to give hens. I can't find the page I want, because I'm on my phone...grr:evil:
 
According to DEFRA regulations (not guidelines) chickens are not to be given ANYTHING which has even passed through a kitchen which is used to prepare food for humans, let alone fed any leftovers of any kind. This is to prevent the spread of disease, and to forbid chickens being fed swill from commercial kitchens. So food which is good enough for you and your children isn't suitable for your chickens, legally. Crazy and unenforceable in a domestic situation but people should realise the need for discretion when discussing how and what they feed their flock.
 
I've never given mine meat- we don't eat a lot, so there's very little left! I was advised on another forum to give them.catfood when they were moulting, then when mentioned it on yet another was thoroughly castigated.....can't do right for doing wrong! To be honest, mine are fine with layers, and a bit if greens and apples. Got 5 Apple trees so always plenty around...its a minefield, isn't it?:???:
 
I don't feed mine any meat..left over or otherwise. They do though get left overs veggies, like roast potatoes for example.

Yes while I agree poultry are omnivores, however I am yet to see a chicken hunt and kill a cow! :o On a serious note the reason we don't is because eat our surplus stock, and I would rather stick to the natural food chain.
 
Being around farms since a child I've always been conscious of the need to try and prevent some of the most damaging animal illnesses one of which is Foot and Mouth Disease in cloven hooved species. The causative organism can be passed in raw and even lightly cooked meat.
Swill (leftovers) has been the cause of many an outbreak of FMD over the years. It is possible for FMD to be transmitted by poultry although they are unable to contract it. The reason kitchen leftovers is forbidden is that it could have been contaminated by meat. You might have some understanding of why I get so heated when I see poultry fed meat, fresh cooked and processed fed to poultry. The poultry industry is heavily criticised for some of it's practices, especially battery cages yet I see people giving accounts of they way they keep/feed their stock which I think is as bad and often worse.
Hobbyist keepers like myself have a responsibility to the wider agricultural community as well and should stick to the rules, not go underground and ignore them as they are there for a purpose.
Mine can forage what they want but I have never and never will feed meat, raw, cooked or processed to my stock. It is un-natural, and un-necessary as there are plenty of suitable feed available.
 
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