Hi from Norfolk

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Hi ,
Im a newbie to keeping chickens and have my first three who have just started laying.I have a light sussex, bluebelle and a standard brown hen, at least thats what i was told they are! Anyway just wanted to say thanks to the forum as the girls were abit sneezy on first arrival but thanks to ACV they are healthy girls. Love the forum and its such great help to us new 'mums'. :D Oh quick question my grandad used to feed cooked veg etc as a mash..is this still reccommended practice, and if so what ?how? and when?
Many thanks.Lucianne
 
Hello and welcome, yes, you can feed a mash- i sometimes boil potato peelings and when cool add layers mash and feed my poultry- my granny did it and i guess i just carried on - most people nowadays feed layers pellets but i am one of the old fashioned poultry keepers! I am in Norfolk too :)
regards, David :)
 
Hi again
And thanks tried the potato peelings, veg scraps and layers pellets mash, the girlies seem to love it! Thankyou, perhaps just a once a week thing?
lucianne
 
Welcome to the forum Lucianne. Great to have you join us.

The ideal is to feed them the correct balanced diet which can be done easily with pellets / mash. The most common 'problem' is feeding too much mixed corn or other treats- they love corn, but will make them fat - and fat hens don't lay eggs! A handful each a day in the late afternoon is the most corn you should give really.

With the scraps, I feed them about once a week too but it depends on what you are feeding and how much etc. as to the nutritional content. Feeding just pasta or potatos with mash for example is great for fattening cockerels but not good for normal layers unless they are under weight.

If scraps are mixed with layers mash, make it into a nice moist 'crumble' mixture, it is still reasonably 'balanced' IMO from the mash ingredients and the variety of scraps they are getting but won't be perfect.

I personally don't feed more than 25% like this though although some people feed more, some less..

Just a passing thought... there are many people who say "My grandad only fed scraps..." but balanced feeds didn't exist then and many chickens had much better free range then so could top up on vitamins from greens and protein from slugs, worms and so on and who knows whether they were getting reasonable egg numbers and lasted longer than a year or two before going to the pot (things were tough I'm sure) ... and so on... I'm sure a 100% scraps diet could be done but getting the right balance would be hard I think.

Don't let me put you off scraps though ;)
 
Wow , thankyou Tim for such a comprehensive reply, i feed the girls a handful of corn late afternoon..usually when i get back uni and they greet me with a lovely chorus! And they have layers pellets everyday, i also took your advice on the week of acv once a month. The scraps i have kept to a once a week thing and they are laying well and appear to be happy healthy hens. Thankyou again and love the forum as it is immense help. :D
 
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