Author Topic: mixed corn (Read 4639 times)

langdon · « **on:** March 12, 2010, 05:55:31 pm »

can using mixed corn make egg production go down
as i used sometime ago cos we didnt have any pellets and they just dont seem
to be laying as much as they used too.
10 chucks 4-5 eggs aday

ballingall · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2010, 06:08:15 pm »

I wouldn't think it would have that much of an impact. How long did you feed them corn for?

Beth

langdon · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2010, 06:16:25 pm »

couple of days
they have gone through their molt doing what a normal chuck does.
they are lohman brown only a year old.
really frustrating(not at them just hope they ok)

shetlandpaul · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2010, 07:44:22 pm »

try giving them maize and any old bread and some greens. a few days on mixed corn could would not be the cause.

Fergie · « **Reply #4 on:** March 12, 2010, 07:47:07 pm »

Yes, but sometimes it is a good thing.

Layers mash is a very high protein food, much higher than natural food, and the chickens respond by converting the excess protein into eggs. Battery hens are deliberately overfed to increase production. Reducing the protein will not bother the chickens but they will reduce the egg production.

Sometimes I deliberately reduce the mash by mixing with grain just to reduce the stress of continuous egg laying.

They will come to no harm, and may benefit from it.

John

langdon · « **Reply #5 on:** March 12, 2010, 09:05:26 pm »

these hens arent ex batt hens

langdon · « **Reply #6 on:** March 12, 2010, 09:07:19 pm »

please forgive the ignorance,
but how do you make layers mash

shetlandpaul · « **Reply #7 on:** March 12, 2010, 09:25:14 pm »

its just a powdered layers pellet that is mixed with water. the old chuck was always fed on grain. its only with the need for intensive egg production that the layers pellet/mash and in there own way growers and finishers were produced. apart from shell and grit the truly free range chuck would get most of its protean from insects. they could and did survive on a few handfuls of grain and any odd bits of green they could get before the pigs got it.

Fergie · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2010, 06:56:17 pm »

Quote from: langdon on March 12, 2010, 09:05:26 pm

these hens arent ex batt hens

I apologise, I didn't mean to suggest they were battery hens, but most commercial hen food that you can buy from a grain merchant is either layers mash or pellets, both of which are designed to promote high egg production. Changing their feed to grain, or any other more natural food will inevitably reduce egg production, which is why I said it is not a bad thing to do.

My own chickens are fed on a mix of grain & layers mash, with plenty of water. I agree with Shetlandpaul, in that a traditional free range chicken will have got most of the protein from insects & grain, but the egg production would have been much less than is expected these days.

John