[tobytoby]

The last 2 bags of this meal that i have bought has contained a lot of dust, that the hens won't eat. I reckon that for every time i fill the feeder ther is about a fifth of meal left as dust. So i decided to phone up and complain and they said they would send me out a returns bag for them to analise it. However the girl said that i should be mixing it with water as it states on the bag instructions - i asked her when was the last time she read the instructions as i could not see this anywhere??
I think it is time to find a new meal - i am sure that hen feed is the waste products of the processes in making other meals?
Unfortunately my hens don't like pellets

[Brijjy]

Thinking back to when my mum used layers meal, she always mixed it with water. I don't know if it said to do so on the directions. I feed my hens, ducks and geese, poultry corn or wheat. At least I know there aren't any nasty additives in it. And my chooks hate layers pellets too.

[manian]

we get layers now but when we did get meal/mash we always mixed with water- not sure if it was on the label or was advised to do that from friends etc
Mx

[Castle Farm]

Don't feed pellets or mash, just mixed corn and if possible free range.


these people don't and thier birds look OK to me.


CHIKEN ... Traditional Backyard Poultry

[the great composto]

i am sorry tobytoby but my mind is in the gutter about what they are going to do with the returns bag.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I always thought meal was mixed with water, and that it would look like dust until mixed. I use pellets but I have to admit the chickens much prefer the mixed corn!

[Sylvia]

CF I really enjoyed that film. What a simple but good life   My poultry are fed only grain as a supplement to freeish ranging.

[tobytoby]

My birds are free range over 4 acres, go where they please and back to lay/roost later. I was always under the impression that meal/crumb/pellets were the best option giving a balanced diet, however if a sack of corn is the only food with the rest made up from scavenged food, then that sounds like a plan?

[SallyintNorth]

Katie Thear says you shouldn't feed wheat until later in the day, as it fills them up so they don't range as they should, and the wheat isn't a complete diet.  She does recommend a scant handful of wheat each last thing at night as wheat is a hard grain and good for them to have in their crop overnight.

Until recently I've always followed her advice and given our totally free range free-loaders^(*) a scattering of pellets in the morning, a small handful of wheat each at night.

Then I got myself in a tizz about the possibility of the ponies getting hold of the pellets, so decided to switch to mixed corn.  Now they get a handful of that in the morning and a little at night if I see them and they seem perfectly healthy.

Mind, we're on a farm so there's always a bit of sheep or cattle cake about they can top up with.


(*) free-loaders because we feed them and the rotters hide their eggs from us if they possibly can!

[hughesy]

I think pellets etc were originally designed for intensive farming where the birds wouldn't have access to anything else, hence the "contains everythinbg they need". If they free range they probably get most of what they need from scratching about.

[chrismahon]

Hughesy has hit the nail on the head. You either keep them mainly in runs and feed pellets or meal with complete balance plus few treats, or you feed them some scattered mixed corn as a means of gathering them up if necessary and give them enough space to free range properly. By that I don't mean the regulatory 15 square metres per bird for trading standards definition, I mean unlimited area almost with an adiquate supply of grubs for the protein they need. There isn't really a simple halfway position. You either take the 'intensive' route or the 'traditional' route.
 
Ours are on Smallholder pellets. They free range for an hour or so simply to relieve the boredom of their run (with all the stress related problems that follow) and don't rely on anything they eat out there for balanced nuitrition.

[hughesy]

I wouldn't describe ours as free range really. We have four pens of birds different breeds in each so need to keep them separate. We let them out one at a time on a daily rotation so they're free range one day in four. We feed pellets but find that on the day they're out of the pen they eat very little out of the feeder. I agree that layer's mash is very probably the crumbs left from the manufacturing process.

[SteveHants]

I've kept mine on pellets, wheat, mixed corn, dried peas....
Seems to make no odds really. I imagine they get plenty of other stuff scratching about.