Feeding chickens.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

Bought 27 day old chicks on April 24. fed them two bags of chick starter then just started mixing by hand some cracked corn, cracked wheat and soybean meal. Being about 4 months old can I just start giving them whole corn and wheat or do I still have to crack it? I don't have any good way to grind feed and this is just a hobby for the grandkids so I don't want to spend a bunch of money.

old · Aug 20, 2008

I have never feed wheat to chickens and my mom did not and my grand father did not. Whole wheat will swell and cause them problems. Now as far as cracking it no on the corn if you also have some sand they can get to so they can then grind it there selfs, but I would say stop the wheat before you blow one up. Milo oats and corn are good but not the wheat. Or of course you can go out and buy scratch for them at about $7 a 50lbs bag which is what I do with my chickens
Hobby farm

Coloken · Aug 20, 2008

Old, your a pretty good ol boy and great on tractors--but

I raised wheat all my life and chicken most of the time. Fed them wheat and what ever. Never a problem.

As for the whole corn , you are correct there. That is what they have gizzards for. All though cracked mght be better.
Kenny

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

My parents and grandparents used to soak wheat in water and/or milk that had gone sour..............the chickens would practically kill one and other to get to the milk soaked wheat because they must have thought it tasted good but I don't think we ever had a problem otherwise............

glennster · Aug 20, 2008

we ground the feed for our chickens, used to throw corn cobs in the grinder also and mix it with the feed. (dad always did it, never knew the reason) if you dont have a feed grinder, see if you can pick up a lawn shredder/chipper. the hammers in them will do a decent job of craking the corn to make your own scratch feed.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

Are you giving them some grit?

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Aug 20, 2008

My thoughts are cracked corn would be best. Easier for them to digest. Be sure to give them shell and bone builder (oyster shell calcium). I never gave mine commercial feed. You can tell the difference in the eggs. They will be much better on corn. When I'd make pancakes with the eggs, they'd be yellow.
If you don't give them calcium, the eggs will break easily and the chickens will break and eat all of the egg making you think they aren't laying.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

We raised broilers for a long time. We found out that ground shell corn and soybean meal worked the best. Oats tended to put water under the skin, and tankage or meat meal made the meat of the chicken dark and sometimes black in spots.
We also fed vis vita for vitamins along with the ground shell corn and soybean meal. for what ever it is worth..

teddy52food · Aug 20, 2008

My neighbor fed his chickens wheat all his life. Never any problems that I know of. We used to get our eggs from him. He had good eggs.

sjh · Aug 20, 2008

They can eat it all whole, but it is better to crack it. Cracked grain is easier to digest. You should feed them a vitamin/mineral supplement. The lack of the supplement will cause them to grow slower. Another way to get lots of vit/min is to feed them greens. Grass, clover, alfalfa and garden vegetables are good.

sjh · Aug 20, 2008

Brian
You should only feed laying hens oyster shells. They need it for shell production. Non laying birds can have detrimental effects on them. Like dying.

dhermesc · Aug 20, 2008

He threw the corn cobs in as roughage, and its better to feed the cobs than to burn them.

big hunter · Aug 20, 2008

We have 6 chickens. Got them as chicks and kept them in the chicken house, feed them the starter. When they got to just about full size we let them cluck are thelittle fenced in chicken barn yard, but a couple of them flew the coupe. So we just opened the gate and let the others out also, so now we have free range chickens. We don't feed them anything...THEY TAKE whatever they want...they have knocked down almost half of the sweet corn, they ate half the tomato's out of the garden, when we sit out on the deck to eat dinner they climb the steps and beg at the table, yeah and of course I throw them some food. The main problem we have is I can't find where they are laying the eggs. When I pen them back up this winter maybe they will get used to laying in the chicken house then next year when they fly the coupe they will automatical go back to the house to lay...GOOD GRIEF

farmer101IL · Aug 20, 2008

I've got 30 layers they are freerange which means to me they git nuttin. Bugs n weed seeds. Eggs taste better after the grasshoppers come along. If u have money to burn go tto the store. Otherwise them buggers eat everything, scraps from house., anything a pig will eat they will. If they are cooped up then. well you have to baby them and give them good vitamined food and such. Whole corn, wheat , soybeans, oats any seed will do, God gave them gizzards for a reason, just make sure they have access to gravel to grind the seed.

Good luck

farmer]

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

It takes protein to produce eggs.You need a 16% ration for hens.Growing pullets need more.

old · Aug 20, 2008

What can I say I've been told all my life wheat does not make good feed for any thing but humans so thats what I'll stick with.

Wesley Stephens · Aug 20, 2008

I went to NC State for Poultry Science and I raise a lot of chickens, mostly pullets, for sale. I have found that a good commercial starter feed is best until about 16-18 weeks and then a good layer feed works best. A lot of people feed grain or scratch feed in addition, but I don't because you wind up diluting the nutrients in the complete feed.

Coloken · Aug 20, 2008

Hi Old, Hi protein, like 14 percent. Great for hogs. Do not feed to cows or ruminates. Its gluten will cause bloat. All most imposible to feed to cows. Mix it in with the corn for hogs and save on protein.
Kenny

Anonymous-0 · Aug 20, 2008

Ok. Thankyou all for your input but it seemed to turn into a debate on feeding wheat. I have had good success with feeding wheat so will continue. My question is do I need to crack or grind the corn with chickens at 4 months age?? or can I feed it whole??

john in la · Aug 20, 2008

You can feed them whole corn if they have access to grit but they will do much better on cracked corn.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 22, 2008

Corn and tomatoes are worth much more than a bag of layer pellets.Lock them up, then you will get all the eggs , corn, and tomatoes.If you dont feed them they will help them selves to the garden.

Feeding chickens.

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