Chicken nutrition plan

[MsPony]

I posted this in BYC, no replies, but thats ok, I personally cant stand BYC Its hard being on a big site when your opinion/knowledge is in the unpopular area. I felt myself getting riled up and arguing about soy, had to close the computer and walk away lol.


I have 4 full grown hens; 5 yr old barred rock, 2 yr old (?) polish and buff brahma, and a 1 yr old mexican fighting hen. They are currently on a conventional lay mash, which I will be changing to organic pellets, free feed. I give them K. show scratch (ingredients below), organic black oil sun flower seed and regular scratch daily. I also give them yogurt when I have it, which is almost daily, and fruits and veggies. Mealworms a few times a month. All are in good health, except my barred rock, shes been sick since she was a chick, but shes still alive out of my original 4. Shes a rather heavy bird, and has arthritis which she is getting pain meds for.

Now I have 6 2 month old chicks; 2 light brahmas, 1 black langshan, 2 wynadottes and a cuckoo maran. They are not in with the older girls yet, but will be put in with at least the polish and buff brahma, possibly the MFH and barred, if they tolerate it ok. My barred is top hen, but old and I dont want to hurt her, and the MFH thinks that she is a house chicken and people are her flock.

Daily the chicks get 2-3 cups of organic chick starter crumbles, 1/4 cup Pelleted Grain Ration (Dynamite, Inc), 1 tbsp Zoo Formula (Dynamite, Inc), K. Show Scratch, regular organic scratch and black oil sunflower seed. They get veggies and fruit and I WAS giving them yogurt until I realized it might have too much calcium? They dont get ay scratch or seeds until afternoon now, I realized it was too much "candy", and corn creates heat which its been HOT here.

Now I am worried about my black langshan, I can feel her kiel really easily. I dont know if this is because she is a very light bird, always has been, or if she is actually sick? Their organic crumbles has DE in it, so I am not worried about worms. Are they getting enough fat? The PGR by Dynamite has a very high quality fat content, but the measurements are for horses. Is all this too much calcium? My Dynamite nutritionist said the zoo formula should be ok for chicks, but shes a horse/dog person and tried to give me the best help she can when its in regards to other animals.

K. Show Scratch contains: calf manna, black oil sunflower seeds, whole oat seeds, scratch and...ugh I forget what else. Just picked it up, its supposed to be good for their feathers/show chickens, but I am leary because of the calf manna.

Bump, I called Dynamite and they transferred me to another rep in the Mid West. They are having me give them Excel in their feed, as well as Dyna Pro in their water for extra stomach goodies.

Anyone have input?

 

[patandchickens]

They dont get ay scratch or seeds until afternoon now, I realized it was too much "candy", and corn creates heat which its been HOT here.

Corn does NOT create much heat in digestion. It is sometimes called a "hot feed" in the sense that it is pretty high energy content, thus if you feed a horse 4 lbs of corn instead of 4 lbs of (say) oat or wheat he will be getting a larger total amount of calories and thus inclined to be more energetically silly if it exceeds his energy requirements. But corn DOES NOT produce much heat during digestion, unlike more fibrous feeds.

The reason people feed corn in the winter (to poultry) is not because it is particularly heating, on a per unit weight basis -- it is because it is a good concentrated source of calories, to replace calories burned keeping the chicken warm. It is sort of a more concentrated fuel for the furnace, if you will, and makes it easier to ensure adequate total caloric intake.

For WARMTH, though, fibrous feeds work better. This is why to keep horses warm in a cold winter you have to actually *increase* their hay ration.

Bottom line: there is no problem with feeding corn in summertime. As long as it is part of an overall balanced feeding program of course.

Their organic crumbles has DE in it, so I am not worried about worms.

Being as there is virtually no real evidence beyond personal anecdote for DE preventing worms, I would at least CONSIDER the possibility of worms, and maybe think about having a fecal done.

To answer your other nutrition questions would take a piece of paper, the nutrient analyses of your feeds, and a calculator. You can do it easily enough yourself, and I would recommend it as a useful exercise. Once you have come up with the (hopefully-correctly <g>) calculated numbers for what total amounts of fats and calcium and protein and such in your flock's overall diet, you can post them here and we can discuss whether they seem appropriate. If I had your feed-analysis numbers in hand (you can read them off your labels) AND if I did not have two small children and a still-being-housetrained puppy I would offer to do it for you, but unless you want to take the kids and puppy to the park for me right now, I fear you'll have to push the calculator buttons yourself

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

Wow, way to complicated for me!!! I am finally soy-free and commercial mix free here. But my hens free-range, so they can balance their own rations. Not so much in winter, but they do just fine. Do your birds free-range in grassy areas with access to greens and bugs daily? If so, they will balance their own rations. Even the chicks. You can help them by digging worms for them, too.

Hope you get some answers. Probably the manufacturers could help you the best.

 

[MsPony]

Thanks for the clarification! And how about we do both? hehe ill take out a calculator after work and do some math.

Free, hehe it seems complicated but really isn't! I've been a D-Mite customer for years, so I'm used to this powder + that liquid + that grain... They are free range, just in a chick day tractor right now. I called the company but I guess they really can't say anyhing about chickens anymore because of new FDA standards? Huh.

 

[keljonma]

For worms you could try Verm-X, which is organic and has had some good results.

For young chicks and pullets, I think if you limit the yogurt to once a week, you should be okay. Personally, we make our own yogurt and never seem to run out of the stuff.

 

[MsPony]

I feel really stupid, I am sitting here trying to punch out the numbers and dont get it! The PGR was easy, that was multiplication to get numbers. But now I am dividing and depending on which way I go, I get different numbers.

The %'s are by pound, I am feeding a tablespoon/day so I divide by 8 (.5oz/16oz(=lb))....so for everything is it 8/# or #/8?

Also thanks Kel!! Harry (my black langshan, female) has an appt tomorrow, and I will bring a group fecal as well.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm with Free....I really can't see making things more complicated than they need to be. It's chickens and it isn't real hard to keep them healthy and fat~at least, it shouldn't be. Heck, I've got to make sure mine aren't getting TOO fat...they don't lay as well when they are fatties.

I can't imagine measuring, doing percentages, etc. for any of my animals. Throw down the feed, make sure its a variety of good things and let nature do the rest....that's my whole method.

 

[Mackay]

I've heard that feeding them flax seed will produce high omega 3 eggs.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I can't imagine measuring, doing percentages, etc. for any of my animals. Throw down the feed, make sure its a variety of good things and let nature do the rest....that's my whole method

and be sure to yell: "now get out there and free range because its FREE"

anyway - thats what i do.
;-)

 

[MsPony]

Rofl! Right now they are just in a chick tractor pen, they have eaten most of my yard LOL! Their grown up girl yard will be 60x40...I don't have a farm or anything trying to get the grass growing in that yard...

I've always been a D-Mite customer & believer, they even have instructions for me reptiles. But I am intrigued on finding percentages, so how do you do it?