4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[melly264]

We have had our ex-batts for coming up to 6 weeks now. They are settling in well and are (slowly!) feathering up.

 

The old fashioned way of feeding hens seems to have been with kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s, many of the friends that have memories of keeping hens, or country hens seem to be about feeding them from the big kitchen pot.

 

We do compost our kitchen waste, but it would seem a shame if there was highly nutricious food going into the compost if the hens could benifit. I don't think we would have to go all out kitchen scaps only, but maybe a good % a day could be.

 

I wondered if anyone has experience of feeding their hens in this way so could tell us what sort of breakdown the food should be. Should we mix our layers mash in with it? Our chickens never liked the mash! How do we make sure they are getting what they need from food like this?

 

Thanks

[Egluntyne]

I agree , it woul d be a shame to waste the food, bt the only drawback is that the hens will not lay as much. If you are not bothered about that then I'm sure they will be fine, apart from maybe getting a bit short of calcium, which you can top up with limestone flour.

 

Personally I wouldn't give them more than about 30% s"Ooops, word censored!"s....based on nothing scientific, just a feel for things.

[Hen Watch]

Same here as Egluntine has already said.

 

Some days I have so much pasta left over from daughters school lunch, mixed in with leftover rice or potato skins from dinner, added with the kids apple cores, plus melon pips and the brocolli stalks etc.. and that can be just one day. Then I just can't resist giving it all to the chooks. But I know that if they get too much I'll only get maybe 2 eggs the following day or so instead of 4. So I try not to go mad, but it is difficult.

 

I also limit treat food to late afternoons only so they fill up with pellets first.

[melly264]

Okay, thanks for the info.

 

I had all but stopped 'treats' (ie grapes lettiuce etc) as the girls are free ranging for a few hours each day. I guess that when the kitchen food includes the rice and pasta and potatoes I won't be upsetting their systems too much (!) and hopfully still get some eggs.

 

If I keep a record of it then I guess I'll work out the balance that my girls can have and still be productive.

 

Thanks again

[Egluntyne]

Brilliant idea.