layer crumbles for chickens

[swampratt]

I feed DuMOR 16% layer crumbles to my hens and get an egg a day from them almost every day.. of course there is always a hen after a few days that takes a day off.

I tried another brand from a feed store that was more calcium I think 18%. May have been 20%
It lasts me about a month for 50 lb bag and man the hens did not lay well on it at all.
I bet I 2 eggs a day instead of 6 and some days nothing.

I put them back on DuMOR and they began laying an egg a day.

It is on sale now for $13 a bag instead of the 14.49 they were getting..I know different tractor supply stores have different prices.

What do you feed your hens?
If I let mine eat scraps or roam in the yard to eat they will eat much less crumbles and egg production goes down.

 

[Annie]

Mine get DuMor 16% also but they also get the stuff my quail scratch out which is 24% starter crumbles. Same thing for the ducks, too. Plus whatever food the rabbits scratch out I dump on top of the ducks' pan when I clean up the rabbit trays -- usually every other day.

My chickens aren't laying for **** right now but they don't have any added light on them either. Plus I think they are 3 this year. Maybe 4. So it's actually about time to butcher them and let the duck and quail have that food -- and space.

Ducks are laying sporadically or maybe I just havent found their most recent hidey hole. They like to lay up under the rabbit and quail pens and then cover their eggs up.

The quail have actually increased production from what I was getting during the really hot days of summer. Seems they like the cooler, wet weather over the dog day heat we have in July and August. I'm looking forward to getting that incubator fired up and hatching some quail to feed out and butcher this spring.

Rabbits will get bred in February so they kindle in March that way feed-outs will be ready to butcher before it gets too hot. My last summer breeding will happen in April. Then I will give the does a break until September, when I will breed every month or so until December, when I will let them take a break through the coldest months of winter.

 

[freewookie]

Our local feed store gets crumbles from Stillwater Milling and that’s what we feed.

Our girls aren’t laying much either with the shorter days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[swampratt]

The first sexlinks I had would lay almost every day of the year. During the hot summer months I would say I missed maybe 20 days of laying from them.
I did not all any extra light.
The ones I have now hade a Red 250 watt heat light above and slightly beside the hanging water feeder.
Keeps it from freezing for the most part.

They are up early and will stay up late if I am outside.
I have Barred rock and Sex Links. 3 of each

 

[Gunbuffer]

Rumor or Purina pellets. Crumbles have too much waste in my pen.

 

[MacFromOK]

"layer crumbles for chickens"

Am I the only one that thought this was gonna be a recipe?

I must have read it as...

"layer crumbles for chicken"

 

[swampratt]

I get no waste from my chicken feed any more.
I have 2 of the old Folgers steel coffee cans screwed down to a 3' X 3' piece of plywood that is on the coop floor.
I put their food in the cans but do not fill it to the top as you know they like to toss food.

Fill them 1/2 way or a tad more and all the food will stay in the cans when they eat.
And yes they can clean all the way to the bottom.
They can't scratch the food in the can.
At first I had one chicken sit in the can and try to eat. They are too big now and found that did not work well anyway.

I tried all kinds of things before the cans and nothing worked well.

If i go out of town I can fill the cans up and they are good for 4 days. Or add more cans for a longer trip.

 

[davek]

I have a lot of trouble with chickens wasting food, I'm going to try the coffee can trick -except I don't have any coffee cans. I do have some 4: PVC pipe laying around, I'cc cut off some pieces of that and secure them upright. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Cowcatcher]

I built these. Wife says they work well. Birds gotta stick their heads in a ways to eat.

I have a lot of trouble with chickens wasting food, I'm going to try the coffee can trick -except I don't have any coffee cans. I do have some 4: PVC pipe laying around, I'cc cut off some pieces of that and secure them upright. Thanks for the idea.

 

[swampratt]

Nice.
If they must stick their heads in a ways that keeps them from tossing.
Those look like they will hold a lot of feed.
I recently found a few old steel coffee cans in a fill ditch.
I use them for a velocity stack on my carburetors also.
Goes between carb and air cleaner base.
Yes I must trim and size but not an issue.
Straightens out the air entering the carb.