# can i feed chickens just corn?



## Adrescher7

Self explanatory title. I can get corn much cheaper then i can get chicken feed. What are your thoughts on feeding just corn? or mix the corn in with the feed to make it last longer or what? Thanks for all input


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## oregon woodsmok

Sure. As long as you aren't hoping to get any eggs or much growth.


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## Blue Blazes

I feed a layer pellet in the morning and cracked corn two times throughout the day. Basically a 50/50 mix. My birds are all healthy, lay very well etc. 

Corn isnt that high in protien, but most backyard birds arent production bred or managed to meet production standards and can manage quite well without the high dollar feeds. I do not ever recall feeding anything besides scraps and corn to our birds growing up....do not recall ever having health issues or loosing birds.


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## chickenista

It is the protein that is going to be lacking with feeding just corn.
They need a minimum of 16% protein to lay well.
Corn is usually around 9%.

If you use a 16% laying pellet but water it down with 9% only corn you are not going to be reaching that 16% that gives good eggs.

Now... if you could provide a steady amount of high protein food to counter that.. like a pound or two of earthworms etc.. then you could feed more corn..
but they would still need access to greens etc.. from either free ranging or you picking a 5 gallon bucket of weeds for them.
They need the nutrients in the greens.


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## Adrescher7

chickenista said:


> Now... if you could provide a steady amount of high protein food to counter that.. like a pound or two of earthworms etc.. then you could feed more corn..
> but they would still need access to greens etc.. from either free ranging or you picking a 5 gallon bucket of weeds for them.
> They need the nutrients in the greens.


So, if i mix corn with greens that would pretty much be an all natural diet for free(for me at least) correct? if i am right with this assumption, what kind of greens would be best?


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## Caprice Acres

Even more important than the crude protein level of corn, is the fact that corn is woefully unbalenced in amino acids, particularly lysine. Unbalenced essential amino acids = NO PROTEIN can be made. Sure, birds will be able to recycle some spent body protein but not enough to meet requirements (hence the term, ESSENTIAL amino acids). If they're allowed to free range they will be able to get some of their AA's from bugs and what they find, but likely not all. 

Corn is essentially sugar, and not good for anything else really. It's a great PART of a diet, but is not a complete diet by any means. It's also short in a LOT (and I mean a lot) of vitamins and minerals. My chickens also do not enjoy 'greens' as much as I would hope except for the stuff they find on their own. When we feed 'greens' say as table scraps, they tend to ignore them. Just because you offer it does not mean it is eaten - and the diet that is eaten is the one you must evaluate, not the one offered. 

I would NOT breed chickens on a greens/corn diet. I would not raise (as in from chick-age) on a corn/greens diet. I would not expect 'good' growth, production, or feed efficiency on a corn/greens diet.


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## Adrescher7

well I guess i have to rephrase my whole question, Is there anything i can grow or make find myself to feed my chickens? rather then buying the stuff they sell at stores, I prefer to know where my food comes from, and saving money is great too


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## Terri

Look at the ingredients on a sack of feed: can you grow those things?

Chickens eat a diet that is very similar to ours. When the kids were little I gave the chickens the half eaten peanut butter sandwiches and half-eaten apples with their bought feed, and the eggs were very cheap and the birds were very healthy! That did not last, though. Teenagers waste very little food!


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## Cyngbaeld

Stinging nettles, black oil sunflowers, small beans or peas, alfalfa or clover, amaranth, oats, milo, Indian corn, lots of stuff you can grow.


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## FarmboyBill

Checking in my 1938 Morrison and Morrison book, Feeds and Feeding, for fattening boilers or other poultry, , MASH of 45lbs ground corn. 22.5 lbs wheat, ground, and 22.5ground oats. 10lbs skimmilk

That being said. 95% of the time, we fed shelled corn only to our chickens. Once mom had 1000, but usually it ran from 2 doz to 50, and all we fed was shelled corn


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## chickenista

http://www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html

Here.
Make sure to read all the topics covered including ways to produce more of what you feed to your birds.. worms, mealworms etc..
as well as feed recipes etc..
It is a very informative site that gives the reasons why your birds need certain things in their diets.
I hope this helps. It can be done!


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## birdman1

IF your birds are on pasture or free range in the barn yard corn can be the staple and they suplement thier diet with bugs weeds and worms.If your pushing them for max production or have them confined they need some comercial feed to do well or I'v heard of lots of home made feed mixes depending on what is available and sprouting the grain helps don't forget they need gravel for thier craw if confined to grind the corn


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## akane

Nothing except the most specialized of animals that you will rarely hear about and never see can survive on one food item alone. Most need a huge variety and an omnivore like a chicken is designed for some of the greatest variety of all animals. Think of feeding a human on one single food item and how fast that would cause problems. That's what you've got with a chicken. Think of feeding a human on 2 food types and ignoring the rest of the food pyramid (didn't they make that a plate recently?) and it's the same with a chicken. Variety is important for long term health and best production.

Corn is horribly unbalanced and I prefer to keep it out of any animal's diet completely but it's hard to find chicken feed without corn. Any grain is a better choice with oats being one of the highest fat and there are several that meet or beat the protein in corn. Black oil sunflower seed well surpasses the kcals in corn requiring much less even though it costs more. On top of that they need the amino acids found in animal protein not just plant. Omnivore remember. Even humans can't survive as vegetarians without fortified foods or vitamin/mineral supplements and we have less issues with the amino acid limitations of just plant protein than animals like chickens. Sure you can keep them alive and you might get some eggs for awhile but without variety you aren't going to have a long productive experience with your animals.


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## mommagoose_99

NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!! Corn is not healthy for your chickens . They are omnivores they need variety in their diet. If you want eggs you need to feed a well balanced diet found in laying mash .If you feed less than 16% protein you will not get any eggs. If you feed all corn , which by the way is all contaminated with GMO Monsanto pollen your hens will be sickly and non productive. Why not feed your family all candy corn and see how thye look in a month.
LInda


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## PurpleToad

Starting in early Dec, I started free feeding my birds, a mixture of 2/3 cracked corn and 1/3 whole oats. Then I also put out a couple scoops of a layer pellet. My birds have been free ranged since they where out of the brooder. Since I have started doing this, my egg production has gone up, and cost of feed down. Come spring when I get bugs and things growing, I will probably go back to feeding just the bare minimum and make them forage. Some of the increased production could be just the fact that my birds are older, but the production did go up during the shortest days of the year.


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## unregistered168043

Adrescher7 said:


> well I guess i have to rephrase my whole question, Is there anything i can grow or make find myself to feed my chickens? rather then buying the stuff they sell at stores, I prefer to know where my food comes from, and saving money is great too


I've been on this question for over a year, ever since I got my birds. I've asked everyone from old farm folks, to online gurus, read books, talked to feed salesman, you name it!

Here's what I come up with;

Corn is OK during the spring, summer and early fall months when/if chickens have access to free foraging outdoors where they gobble up bugs, grass,and seeds all day long. The protein level is a bit too low for proper growth/health/laying during winter. Also there isn't enough calcium. Old timers have told me that all they ever fed was corn and a few scraps and their chickens have always done fine. Many feel that all these new concepts about chicken dietary needs are designed to get gullible newbies to buy expensive feed.

I have fed only corn in summer and fall ( I grew most of it myself ) but now that winter has prevented their natural forage, I augment with commercial feed ( about 50% with 50% still corn ). I get lots of good large eggs and my birds are very healthy and robust. When they were growing I fed them commercial growing mash and allowed them to forage at 7 weeks.

Come spring, when the bugs and grass come back, they're off the feed and back on corn and forage. I will be making an even greater effort to grow as much of their corn as I can. I'm not running a commercial egg operation, so I have no need to maximize egg production to an extreme degree. I use no artificial lighting, I free forage my chickens every day all day, and I grow as much of their feed as possible. At the end of the day I still have alot of eggs, and good healthy birds.


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## Caprice Acres

I actually do the opposite - I don't force my hens through the winter (no supplemental light/heat) so we feed half whole corn and half our custom grain mix. The birds need a bit higher energy anyways to maintain homeostasis below their thermoneutral zone anyways. Come spring, we cut out the corn and go back to just the custom mix. 

We would NOT do this if we expected them to produce thorugh the winter though. We collect 1x per day and most winters that means most eggs are frozen anyways so forcing them to lay would be a waste of time (and I'm NOT going to heat a coop, thank you very much, haha. )


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## mekasmom

Darntootin said:


> Many feel that all these new concepts about chicken dietary needs are designed to get gullible newbies to buy expensive feed.


That's me! I always fed table scraps and corn. I would also save egg shells, scrunch them up and feed them to the hens. You just have to make them scrunched up so they don't recognize what they are.
I honestly think most of the animal dietary guidelines for most animals are simply made to sell feed.


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## pancho

Corn is great for keeping birds warm in the winter. Free ranging birds will eat more corn in the winter as it keeps them warmer than the softer feed. During summer they will naturally slow down on the corn.
It isn't a complete diet but can be fed to free ranging birds.


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## PurpleToad

Since I started adding corn and oats to my birds diet, I will say that I also picked up a 50# bag of oyster shells to ensure they get enough calcium for the shells. Also I have started saving the shells from the eggs we eat to feed back to them. I also considered adding a poultry mineral block and for the most part cutting out the layer pellets completely. Haven't gone that route yet. Anyone else use the mineral blocks for their birds? How long does something like that last?


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## Adrescher7

thanks for all the inputs. any suggestions on natural foods that are high in protein?


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## Steph in MT

I feed my poultry flock grain screenings from a local mill that I can get pretty inexpensively supplemented with free food scraps from a local restaurant and beef liver from our butcher shop. The birds look great and lay lots of eggs. 
Steph


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## chickenmommy

Put the corn in a feeder for the squirrels. 

Feed the layers layer feed supplemented by some high protein snacks. I make a mix of meal worms, oats, cracked wheat, milled flax, cottage cheese, and yogurt with some chopped spinach mixed in some times. They love it.


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## MatthewB

Adrescher7 said:


> well I guess i have to rephrase my whole question, Is there anything i can grow or make find myself to feed my chickens? rather then buying the stuff they sell at stores, I prefer to know where my food comes from, and saving money is great too


Do you know anyone who works in the foodservice industry? Get them to save some veggie scraps from the kitchen. Most people are happy to do it. Mine get those type of scraps, along with a small amount of layer pellets and corn thrown out in the mornings, and free range most days. I also take the excess eggs I have laying around and boil them, mash them up and feed them back to them. I try to keep my hens as economically as possible. A bag of layer pellets lasts me quite a while...


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## unregistered168043

Adrescher7 said:


> thanks for all the inputs. any suggestions on natural foods that are high in protein?


Worms. Your chickens will find them by themselves.


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## rags57078

back when I raised alot of chickens I got a grind and mix made at the local grain mill and had it made with "" no "" meds . I fed this to all my poultry, ducks , geese , chickens and ect . the kids would go to the creek and catch chubs and carp and throw them to the birds and they loved it , in the summer they ate alot of bugs off them fish , the fish didnt last long enouf to stink. The birds did great and I had several going into the 4H show ring and winning top prizes


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## CesumPec

There is a disease called Pellagra that is virtually nonexistent in the US today but was not uncommon in the south until the 1920s. Poor Southerners, prisoners, children in orphanges could develop a severe rash, dementia, and eventually some could become violently insane. It comes from a diet highly concentrated in corn and is the result of a Vit B3 deficiency. Few know of pellagra today because many of our foods, like cereals, come with added vitamins. Pellagra went the way of scurvy (vit C), Ricketts (vit D) and Beriberi (some other Vit B).

I have no idea if CHix can develop pellagra, but it certainly shows that a diet overly concentrated on one food, corn, is not healthy.


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## casusbelli

Mine get Layena and grass clippings in the summer. Come winter, less pellets, more corn to keep 'em warm, and I'm not expecting an egg a day (protein-wise) anyway. And if a really cold night is expected, I throw them shelled sunflower maybe with some too-old-for-humans shredded coconut for even more fat and heat. 
I have some old canned refried beans, but I haven't tried them yet.


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## chickenista

Adrescher7 said:


> thanks for all the inputs. any suggestions on natural foods that are high in protein?


http://www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html


This is the link I posted earlier... it tells you all about such things..


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## LAPinell

Adrescher7 said:


> well I guess i have to rephrase my whole question, Is there anything i can grow or make find myself to feed my chickens? rather then buying the stuff they sell at stores, I prefer to know where my food comes from, and saving money is great too


I didn't see where anyone mentioned that you could feed your chickens your scraps, so pardon me if I reiterate anything already said.

When we kept our chickens in a moveable chicken house, we fed both our broilers and bannies scraps from our daily meals plus letting them eat fresh grass kept their consumption of grain pretty low. The few warnings I that I know about feeding chickens scraps is to make sure to grind up egg shells, which as good a source of calcium as egg shells are, you don't want to give them the idea that eggs are for eating. Also, since chickens are birds, dairy products should probably be limited, but I haven't killed one yet - they were so fat and happy that the raccoon couldn't resist tasting them before us........


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## Shygal

mommagoose_99 said:


> NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!! Corn is not healthy for your chickens . They are omnivores they need variety in their diet. If you want eggs you need to feed a well balanced diet found in laying mash .If you feed less than 16% protein you will not get any eggs. If you feed all corn ,* which by the way is all contaminated with GMO Monsanto pollen * your hens will be sickly and non productive. Why not feed your family all candy corn and see how thye look in a month.
> LInda


*twitch*..........


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## ChristieAcres

I may have missed it, but add COMFREY and BORAGE to your growing list. Comfrey is 19% protein, BTW... Both these herbs are grown for livestock feed, too. Our piggies ate plenty of them. too. Happy & healthy


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## 65284

My Buff Orpington laying hens free range during the summer, but I keep corn available to them and they pretty well balance their diet with grass and bugs. Their winter feed consists of corn, dampened alfalfa hay and fresh meat. 

During trapping season I save carcasses in the freezer, when those are gone I pick up road kill, usually raccoon, or a chunk of deer, almost anything that's fresh. Everything is skinned and gutted then a chunk is hung up in the chicken pen. I shred a spot to give the hens a place to start, and they usually eat it down to the bone.

I keep my little flock of Silkies confined and they get layer pellets, alfalfa, and a little meat as a treat. As well as being pets I also use the Silkies to rear replacement Buffs, a lot easier and cheaper than buying chicks from a hatchery and brooding them. 

All of my chickens are healthy, happy, lay well and are fertile.


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## jwal10

Ground wheat, oats, milk products and heavy grain screenings, heated. 3 hens, 2 eggs everyday, 3 somedays....James


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## GrannyCarol

Adrescher7 said:


> thanks for all the inputs. any suggestions on natural foods that are high in protein?


I get free liver from a friend that raises a few cows for butcher, its a very good supplement. Meat scraps are good. Animal proteins are good for them.


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## 1sttimemom

When I was a kid all we ever fed our chickens was cracked corn. We threw it out on the ground and they would come running. They free ranged in southern CA and can pretty much live wild there. In fact, I think some areas there now have problems with wild flocks. 

Now here in CO I've fed them lay feed (various brands) and they do seen to have more eggs that way. But cost is also getting to be a factor with layer pellets getting to be $15 per 50lbs. I started cutting it with crack corn. I also always have oyster shell in another feeder. Plus they free range in the day. Last summer we had so many grasshoppers the chickens hardly touched their feed at all. I also feed table scraps, weeds, and they pick at the horses's alfalfa hay. 

A couple yrs ago i was working at a nursing home. I took home lots of leftover veggies, breads, pasta etc. All for free as the kitchen guy liked fresh eggs & would throw it all in a bag at end of the night.


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## TheMartianChick

Add turnips to the list of things that chickens will eat. I don't like turnips but I grow two kinds for my birds. The type that develops a traditional turnip root is fed to the birds during the fall because my birds are confined and do not have access to fresh greens. At first, I thought that they only liked the greens, but learned that if I left the turnip in there, the birds would eat it down to nothing. I also buy 1 lb bags of flax seeds at the Dollar Tree store and feed those to the birds. I haven't tried growing flax yet, but I might just try.


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## J.T.M.

Shygal said:


> *twitch*..........



:happy2:


Make sure they have gravel if you feed whole corn.

Also , you may want to watch weight as they can get to fat to pass the eggs.


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## Shygal

I forgot to add, chickens will eat anything you don't want them to....like your new grapes, your new strawberries, your newly planted garden :grit:


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## Lada

What might be an option is to grow the corn yourself. Pick and shell it yourself, then take it and some recycled feed sacks to a local mill and have them use your corn to make up a mixed feed that is the correct protein you need, adding soybean meal, wheat, etc. as well as vitamins and minerals. We have a neighbor who does this and it is VERY cost effective for him, and he feels better knowing where at least a portion of his feed is coming from. He has his mixed to a protein level of 18% and feeds it to all his livestock - chickens, pigs, goats, etc.


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## dsarchette

corn does very little to warm up anything unless you use it as a fuel. To warm up your animals chickens included give them fiber, a good hay, like alfalfa, any fiber you can. It has a lot of protein as well and the fermintation of said fiber is where they get their heat.


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## homesteadforty

The only thing I feed is cracked corn and whatever kitchen scraps I have for the day. They free range from sun up to sun down. They are healthy, happy and give me an average of 10 eggs a day this time of year and 12 per day during the warmer months (12 hens and 2 roos).


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## pancho

Cracked or chopped corn is not as good as whole kernal corn. The most important thing about corn is usually lost unless it is whole kernal.

The heat from the corn comes from the added energy used to digest the whole kernal corn. Much more energy is needed to digest whole kernal corn than other foods. This energy used is what produces the heat to keep birds warm.


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## iamdrglass

I feed 1/2 scratch 1/2 layer pellets. I also feed all left over scraps from the kids. When I butcher rabbits they go to town on the innards, it is quite funny in a disturbing way.

Dan

Chicken eating rabbits video.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5uNBXQn63I&feature=g-upl&context=G2147574AUAAAAAAACAA[/ame]


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## Dazlin

So what percentage of corn is good?? Is 65% corn added to a layer feed safe?


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## pancho

Dazlin said:


> So what percentage of corn is good?? Is 65% corn added to a layer feed safe?


In my opinion that is way too much corn.
During the warm months I don't feed much corn at all.
During the cold months I feed some corn right before dark.
Even in the cold months I would not feed anymore than 5% corn.


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## J.T.M.

Dazlin said:


> So what percentage of corn is good?? Is 65% corn added to a layer feed safe?


If your feeding a layer ration its not in your best interest to feed corn at all .


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## Dazlin

I don't add the corn....it's already into the layer feed. I get it at a mill, and the owner said the total protein in this layer feed is 17%, but I thought 65% corn was a alot?


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## brownegg

dsarchette said:


> corn does very little to warm up anything unless you use it as a fuel. To warm up your animals chickens included give them fiber, a good hay, like alfalfa, any fiber you can. It has a lot of protein as well and the fermintation of said fiber is where they get their heat.


Actually Corn does help to warm the flock up during cold weather. Corn is high in fiber.
brownegg


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## J.T.M.

Dazlin said:


> I don't add the corn....it's already into the layer feed. I get it at a mill, and the owner said the total protein in this layer feed is 17%, but I thought 65% corn was a alot?


I'm sorry ,I misunderstood you .I thought you were saying you added corn to the layer feed . 

If you really want to save some coin ,only feed your birds what they require.
Chickens eat for a lot of reasons ,not only because they are hungry.


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## Knowon Special

I usually just "lurk" on the site because it is filled with such wonderful information. I've found answers to dozens of my questions and have been very grateful to all those who have been kind enough to share their experience.

With that being said, I would like to contribute my $0.02 worth.

I have a very small flock of chickens: 2 Turken hens (naked necks), 3 Rhode Island Red hens and 1 Rhode Island Red Rooster.


The 2 Turken hens were actually given to me by a neighbor because I was complaining about the plague of grasshoppers in our area (east of Dallas, Texas) this past spring. My neighbor told me that "I can help you with your bugs if you don't mind that they are REALLY ugly, and old (retired), they won't lay anymore but they WILL take care of your grasshopper problem". She brought me two of the ugliest hens I've ever seen later that day, we turned them loose in the back and they immediately went to town on the grasshoppers!

Now, understand, I have NO coop, no "chicken tractor", no enclosure at all for these birds that were given to me on a moments notice. My neighbor said she has no coop for her birds either so the two Turkens were perfectly happy to roost in the big tree with several ground level, low hanging branches out in the pasture behind the house.

Yes, I know this is about feeding them, but you needed to know their history. These were not pampered backyard glamour girls!

Anyway, as it happens, I feed my small flock of 8 sheep, one guardian donkey and one miniature jersey heifer (37" at the top of her back at 19 months) on Fodder. No other sacks of expensive grains or special mixtures, or even alfalfa or coastal grass hay (which can also get expensive). They all just graze on my two tiny acres of native Texas grass and get their fodder twice a day.

We only have a total of 4 acres and of that, only about 2 are currently fenced for grazing (we'll fence the rest when we have the money) 

Now I didn't want my critters to eat through the limited pasture and have a dirt ball by the end of the long dry summer, so I found a way to feed them REALLY healthy, LOTS of vitamins, minerals, PROTEIN (between 18% - 20%), probiotics, enzymes, amino acids and because it is living (not dried, milled, cut, ground, rolled, crimped or otherwise processed) it is *80%* digestible . . . did you note that? ALL the bagged feeds in the world are DRY feed (including those with added sorghum, molasses or any other form of sugar to make it sticky) and at best are only about 18 - 22% digestible.

So, since all my other critters were getting fodder twice a day, the "girls" were also right there chowing down and gobbling up fodder til I thought their craws would pop. They were NOT intimidated by the sheep, the donkey OR the cow!

I noticed the first egg laid in a little hollow at the base of their roosting tree 4 days later. I thought "awww how great, the last egg effort of these sweet natured, old girls!" Later that same day, there was another nice brown egg in the same spot. The next day when I went out in the afternoon there were two eggs in the little hollow nestled between the roots of their nest tree.

My husband and I really enjoyed those 4 eggs and decided that we would get a couple more hens. We figured the old girls might enjoy the company (they weren't particularly impressed one way or the other) and we knew that we were really enjoying the surprising 2 eggs a day. We figured since our neighbor told us they were "old, retired, don't lay anymore" that any day would be the last day we got 2 eggs. I purchased the RIR's about 2 weeks later. Now, all our chickens get their own ration of fodder put out twice a day, mid morning and about an hour before sundown, they clean it up! AND those 2 "old, retired , won't lay anymore hens" along with the 3 RIR hens, those 5 hens average 2 dozen eggs per week. What a blessing! It is slowing down a tiny bit now, as the weather cools off and the days are shorter, but we don't mind the slow down and it seems to be the RIR pullets who are slowing down and not really the Turken girls.

They are truly "free range" because now all of them roost on the top of the stall wall in the barn (does not have a full wall on any one side, so not enclosed, but the night pen is predator proof/safe and surrounds the barn) They have moved their nesting area from the little hollow at the base of that tree to behind the straw bales in the barn. And they eat: *fodder*, bugs, worms/grubs, fresh water. That's it!

What does this cost me? I use whole, untreated with anything, wheat seed (feed seed). I pay $14.00 for a 50lb bag. I put one and a half lbs (dry weight) of seed into a tray (I sprout 2 trays for one day of feed), it sprouts in the trays (11"X22"X3", black with holes in the bottom that cost me $12 for 20 of them) on a rack over the bath tub in my spare bathroom where I spray water from the hand-held shower head on them twice a day and leave the light on all the time (no window in that bathroom), in 7 days I have 18 lbs of fodder to feed. Again, what does that cost me? Well, at $14.00 per 50 lbs X 2 = $28.00 per hundred lbs - 1 lb seed costs $0.28. One lb of seed gives me 6 lbs of fodder so $0.28 / 6 lbs = $0.046 - - less than a nickel a lb.

My chickens lay some of the largest, tastiest, deeeep yellow/orange yolked eggs in the area, my lambs grow better, finish out heavier than the "feeder lot lambs" or any of my neighbors "pastured" lambs (by almost 14%), my ewes have lots of milk for the new lambs and the cow and donkey don't have any ribs showing.

Why we used to go running to the feed store, pay LOTS of money for sacks of feed that often had "stuff" in it that simply wasn't good for our animals or spend $9.00 on a 65lb square bale of grass hay that would only last about 3 days, I can only hope it was because I didn't know any better.

I spent over 600 hours of research, reading, interviewing, cross-checking and experimenting on my own to figure out how to feed my critters as well as what nature and God's creation has been doing since He first started the earth spinning. 

*Is *it the _only_ right way to feed YOUR animals?? - PFFFT!! hardly! That would be for YOU to figure out and decide. But, if you are interested, I'm happy to share everything I learned, how to do it and how to get started DIY for less than $100.00 worth of items you can buy or make and by this time next week be feeding your critters so much better for hundreds of dollars a year LESS than what you are spending now. I'm not a business, I'm not selling anything, I'm just always glad to share stuff I've learned that works well for me with anyone else who is interested. I didn't invent this wheel, I just learned how to use it!

I figured it out - - I was spending almost $180 a month on feed for 8 sheep, 1 donkey, 1 cow, now I spend about $28.00 and have added 6 chickens :smack even a simple country girl like me can tell that is like, ummm less


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## JonM

corn is what my family has always fed their chickens we also let them run around the barn yard ,only locked up at night, always did well if you let them be chickens then corn will be fine I know it isn't the popular answer but they will get bugs and greens and the like while outside so no big deal. point is you don't have to act like its a science experiment raising them just keep them safe and they will see to the rest.


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## GrannyCarol

There was a good thread quite some time back about fodder for poultry, but it was more people starting it than someone that was experienced with using it. I have ducks, not chickens, but I'd be interested in learning more about using fodder from someone that is currently successful using it! I even have wheat around, could probably get it free at harvest around here, its wheat country. All you have to do is ask at the grain elevators and they let you sweep up, etc.


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## Real Hawkeye

mommagoose_99 said:


> If you feed all corn , which by the way is all contaminated with GMO Monsanto pollen ...


My thought, exactly. I often wonder how my layer feed is labeled organic when it has corn in it. Who's foolin' who? You can't find non GMO corn in the Western Hemisphere anymore. Thank you Monsatan.


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## xbigp

i buy bulk grain and mix it myself and it's fed year round to all the chickens an turkeys as long as they are a month or so old. the younger raise up on 100% gamebird crumbles no medicated

it includes *equal* parts of:

20% gamebird crumbles
cracked corn
whole milo
whole oat
whole wheat
sunflower seed
rye(when available)
cracked roasted soybean(when available)

i also supplement w free choice oyster shell


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## Jennifer L.

I just got in 6 tons of bulk coarse cornmeal for the birds this winter. These birds free range all year, are all adults, mostly turkeys, some chickens. I'm not expecting eggs out of anyone, just want to get them through the winter as cheap as possible. I blow it into water tanks and uncover them as needed so the birds feed themselves through the winter. Six tons is an overkill at this point for the number of birds I have here, but I have to lift overhead wires to get the truck in the driveway and it's an enormous PITA to do this, plus in late winter when the place turns to mud, you can just bet the feed truck will come on a "soft" day instead of one where the mud is frozen.

Oh, and I feed cornmeal instead of cracked corn because the birds aren't so fond of the meal, so they will rustle on their own when they can. They do eat a lot of it, but I don't want them living in the barn stuffing themselves only on corn. To be fair, the turkeys prefer doing that, anyway. Some Marans roosters will stay in the barn all the time, though, they just seem wired that way.

The laying hens get commercial layer feed, and when the turkey hens are penned up in March for a month or two of laying, they also get a breeder pellet.


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## farmerDale

I think it depends on expectations what you should feed. As a farmer, I do not do things like raising hens just for kicks, they need to produce well, or it drives me nuts! I am not happy with 70% lay. I want 90 to 95% lay. 

IMO, it is hard to get this rate of lay, (which of course not everyone needs or is shooting for, I understand that), without using well formulated, measured feed.

In summer, er, non winter,  my birds are free range, and get wheat. The wheat is between 12 and 14% protein, and is fed whole. In winter due to the length of the dang season, and the shortness of days, and the extreme temperatures (like -30 to -40, often for weeks at a time), I can ill afford to rely on much other than well formulated commercial feed. I use 40% supplement mixed with wheat. With a good lighting program, They maintain at least 85% lay through the coldest weather. Trouble is making sure to pick the eggs before they explode!

For me, location and climate have a huge affect on the need of animals. While some can raise wigglers, feed food scraps year round, some of us would find this impossible at 40 below. Forcing hens to eat frozen solid stuff is not kind or humane, IMO. 

I have enjoyed this thread, lots of good advice. A bit of uninformed, unnecessary gm panic here and there, but overall great thread!


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## sriston

xbigp said:


> i buy bulk grain and mix it myself and it's fed year round to all the chickens an turkeys as long as they are a month or so old. the younger raise up on 100% gamebird crumbles no medicated
> 
> it includes *equal* parts of:
> 
> 20% gamebird crumbles
> cracked corn
> whole milo
> whole oat
> whole wheat
> sunflower seed
> rye(when available)
> cracked roasted soybean(when available)
> 
> i also supplement w free choice oyster shell


Same here. Everything eats it. Never any medicated food.


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