Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
they grow bigger, they consume the bigger chunks. The disadvantage of using crumbles
is that certain species of birds pick through them. Guinea fowl, for example, will cherry-
pick the grains they like and deposit the rest of the crumble on the ground. When that
happens, the micronutrients are left in the litter and not consumed by the birds. You end
up paying extra for what turns out to be garden compost fertilizer and can't provide the
birds what they need.
Crumbles are still the best choice for young chicks, since they are easy to pick up and
the nutrition content is high. They are calcium-rich, making supplemental calcium unne-
cessary. Because crumbles are easy to digest, a source of grit is rarely needed if they are
the sole source of food. Crumbles, like all feeds, can be purchased in 40- or 50-pound
(18 or 23 kg) bags.
Scratch Grains
When I was growing up, scratch grain feeds were the only varieties available in my ho-
metown. They usually consisted of a mixture of wheat, small amounts of corn, some
barley, a few oats, and trace amounts of millet and other small grains. Although these
feeds are suitable for maintenance of most chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and guineas,
the protein content is usually not high enough and will not promote the laying that one
hopes for in the off-season when confined birds are not able to forage. These feeds work
best when poultry is free range and able to get extra protein in the form of insects and
worms.
My birds are fed a daily pellet ration and get some scratch grains in their diet as a
treat. They run for the kernels of corn as a child would run for candy. The ideal feeding
system provides some sort of scratch grains to the birds to promote healthy exercise. If
you have your flock on litter, allow the birds to scratch for grains, but remember not to
give too much or it ends up being wasted and thrown away.
Boosting the Scratch Grain Diet
Scratch grains from different parts of North America vary in grain composition and nu-
tritional content. Scratch grains from the Pacific Northwest contain very little corn. In
the Midwest, they are mostly corn. If you move to the Southeast, you'll find sorghum or
milo in great quantities. These regional discrepancies make it hard to pin down the nu-
tritional content and give recommendations to people for how to increase protein when
necessary. Therefore, I'm providing the following tips to help you make decisions about
how to appropriately alter your flock's feed.
If scratch grains are going to be the sole food source for your flock,
then the birds
must be allowed to
forage
— search for their own food naturally — supplementing the
scratch grains with protein sources they find while ranging freely.
