Can I switch from Layer feed to Flock Raiser Feed?

[U_Stormcrow]

The best way to add protein is to adjust what complete, balanced food you buy for them. Any supplement you offer your birds should be considered "treats", and not exceed 10% of their diet by weight, out of concern for unbalancing their diet.

Crickets, for instance, are a great source of protein - depending on information source you trust, they can be as high as 60% by weight (I suspect that figure is as powder, without shell/chitin). BUT they are also very high in fat, in fiber, and in calcium. Additionally, not all crickets offer essentially "complete" (meaning containing all amino acids) proteins. Some species of crickets are particularly low in tryptophan and threonine, as example.

Why does tryptophan matter? Another Tryptophan study. Another.

Not sure I trust all the numbers here, but at least it gives some indications of popular bugs and relative concentrations of protein, fat, and calcium -

Black Soldier Fly larvae (another popular chicken treat) are lower in protein, higher in fat, similarly high calcium, and tend to be more complete protein sources, due to their diet.

So, good as treats. So are mealworms. Not as a regular dietary supplement.

...and all that said, while I'm aware that one can improve one's flock by adjusting amino acid levels in the feed they get, that's a level of granularity that frankly isn't worth my time investment to research, understand, and start tinkering with - which is why I stick to the 10% rule for treats, unless there is clear indication of some dietary imbalance in my flock. Instead I et them free range a biodiverse poly-cultural pasture.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Oh, and you may find this thread useful when considering when (if) and what part of an egg to feed back to your flock. The results might surprise you!

 

[mgharris30]

Oh, and you may find this thread useful when considering when (if) and what part of an egg to feed back to your flock. The results might surprise you!

This was very helpful!! I was considering scrambling a couple bantam eggs with the shell (and cooking it all).
It’s hot in Texas and they also still have grass in the run so they aren’t eating much feed. I’ve started spreading some feed out in the run they way you would scratch in the hopes they’d eat some by accident. I think I’m just inviting ants

 

[U_Stormcrow]

This was very helpful!! I was considering scrambling a couple bantam eggs with the shell (and cooking it all).
It’s hot in Texas and they also still have grass in the run so they aren’t eating much feed. I’ve started spreading some feed out in the run they way you would scratch in the hopes they’d eat some by accident. I think I’m just inviting ants

ants are a good protein source too.

I feel your heat - we lived outside of Austin till two years ago, i spent a bit more than a decade in TX for a job there. Suggest wetting the feed - loose oatmeal like consistency with cool water. Helps cut down on waste, some, too.

 

[cmom]

I still feed once a day, 10# each evening, to encourage them to return to the runs from the pasture so i can lock up. Different management styles.

Was only 91 degrees today, i was busy with a shovel. You ere hotter i think. No rain today was a positive.

My oyster shell is from a 50# bag, sits in a short plastic bucket, partly set in the dirt. Used to use a 1# butter tub, but they kept flipping it.

It was 94 for the high here yesterday. I had to feed because I knew many of the feeders were close to empty. I dread the summer heat. I do have shade trees in all of the pens and sprinklers in some, but the sprinklers reach all of the pens. There is an open area between the coops and the trees in the pens and I sometimes watch the birds run across the hot sand to get in the shade, so on go the sprinklers. A few years ago we put metal roofs on all of the coops. I think it actually helps keep the coops cooler inside. I think the metal reflects the sun. When I did put the oyster shells and grit in bowls even in a corner they would manage to flip them over so that's when I decided just to add it to their feed. Currently I have around 500 birds. Taking some birds to sell tomorrow to our local farm swap. I have to make room for the chicks. Currently they're in the chick/grow-out coop but will have to go out into the outer coops so I'm sorting out who to keep as future breeders.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

...and I'm getting ready to buy another 550# of feed for my much smaller flock. Agree on the metal roof, definitely seems to reflect, rather than absorb, sunlight - and doesn't hold the heat as long into the evening as, say, the concrete board I used to wall the coops.

In some ways, my first raised coop was a mistake (except that I have ducks...) but the space underneath it is used by my birds like an open air coop in the heat. Always shaded, no walls on three sides, the dig down into the dirt and siesta much of the day. Out to range on the pasture fist thing in the AM before it gets too warm, during the afternoon sprinkles (and just after) when the bugs are active, and then again as the sun starts to be obscured by the surrounding trees.

 

[cmom]

The outer coops. This was earlier this year before the leaves grew out on the trees. There are shade/rain tables in all of the pens the birds like to get under too.

This was an overcast day.

 

[cmom]

I go through a half ton of feed monthly. Now with the chicks it's a bit more. How long does your 550# of feed last?

 

[cmom]

Off to sweat some more and empty my trailer and get ready to load it with birds. I have a trailer full of shaving for the coops.

 

[Vickischics]

Fellow Floridian, it was hot here today too. Today was feeding day for me. I empty the feed into buckets and load the buckets into a trailer and tow it out to the coops and pour the buckets into the feeders. Today I added their oyster shells and grit in their feed and filled their feeders. I have 40# feeders in all of the coops. One coop has a 50# feeder. It's easier to handle the buckets. I tried free choice years ago and most of the time it usually ended up on the floor or ground so now I just add it to their feed and it filters down into the pan on the bottom of the feeder and they take what they want. Luckily the feed last about a week, but I have a lot of birds. I won't have to add any oyster shells or grit for quite awhile.

How many birds is "A Lot"?