Feeds and Feeding - Raising Poultry - page 88

Keep a small container of grit inside the flock's pen. I usually use an old 3-pound (1.4
kg) coffee can or a large, quart-size (1 L) can nailed to the wall at the chickens' height
where they have free access. Birds of various sizes need varying sizes of grit, but it's
best to let them personally pick and choose from a bucket of mixed sizes.
Calcium
Supplemental oyster shell is a necessity for all egg-producing operations that don't use
pellets or crumbles with added calcium. Most pellets or crumbles contain the proper bal-
anced amount of calcium a laying hen needs. Too much calcium can cause reproductive
tract problems for hens and an excess of calcium deposited in the eggs. This can lead to
an exceedingly thick-shelled egg and make hatching nearly impossible.
Be sure to check the label on the back of your feed to see if it is a proper source of
calcium, or ask your feed salesman about calcium requirements for birds fed the brand
of feed you're thinking of buying.
Don't dump the oyster shell on the feed or it will be wasted. It is best to keep a small
container off to the side where they can find it; the flock will eat it instinctively when
they need it.
Making Your Own Feed
The few small feed companies left will often grind and mix feed for you in minimal
batches of 1,000 or 2,000 pounds (453 or 907 kg). If you can arrange this, your options
for what you can feed are greatly increased. You can then decide whether or not you
want to use fish, meat, and bone meal, or soy products for protein — or even do away
with all of them and switch to something else.
Grains
You can't just throw any grain into your homemade mix. Some make better choices than
others.
Wheat has many varieties, from hard to soft, that birds find palatable in varying de-
grees. For example, poultry definitely do not care for hard red winter wheat. Any type
of hard wheat, red or white, is best fed after it's been cooked or soaked in water for a
day or two. Soft white is the top choice for uncooked wheat feed.
Barley, in both ground and steam-rolled forms, has always worked well for poultry
feed. The fat it produces on the carcass of meat birds is a nice light color.
Oats are higher in protein than most grains, but poultry get picky about eating them
whole. Sometimes it takes a little bit of conditioning to get the poultry to pick up the