Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
Hens will probably live and do ok on wheat and what they scratch, but proper layer will have higher protein, grit and ingredients to make yolk a nice colour, so you should get more eggs of better quality.
Feeding chickens ?
- Thread starter Clive
- Start date
- Location
- Wiltshire
- Location
- Essex
The colour you get from layers mash is from chemicals I believe.
yes we throw them all the kitchen peelings, they live in a orchard so also get any windfall fruit
Grains can be fed whole to hens as they have a crop to break them down with, although I do find some struggle with whole maize. You shouldn't feed hens barley as apparently
They'll be well away then, I think most people over complicate feeding their hens.
- Location
- Wiltshire
Definat
Definitely, we used to have broiler breeders here and there was little colour to the yolks. Hens living outside with lots of different things to eat will give good colour. One of the guys who worked in our chicken unit previously worked on a layer farm that experimented with food dye in the oyster shell so that the shells were different colours. The idea was to create a new coloured egg market but using caged birds, this would have been in the early 1970s
Bg
I take it the experiment was a roaring success!
- Location
- Wiltshire
SilliamWhale
Member
Grainn cleanings? Surely got a bit of fat hen this year?
we feed them to wild birds usually through winter but would be a good idea to throw a bit at the chickens as well i guess
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
I think there may be natural alternatives with yellow pigment such as corn and sunflower used now, but I do believe you can get a Pantone chart for yolk colour and in the past the used synthetic colourings.
The yolk colour has nothing to with the nutritional value of the egg
And we wonder why people increasingly don’t trust farmers to provide their food !
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
Sorry I think you missed the point of my post, which is that we now use natural means to produce a quality product.
Basically feed white products like wheat and you get a pale egg, feed yellow or orange like sweet corn and you get a rich orange. we don’t need synthetic dyes.
It’s just something else to remember in the ration.
- Location
- Essex
That's true if it's chemical colouring but if it's foraged from a natural diet then it is definitely an indication of nutritional value
- Location
- Yorkshire coast
Layers pellets and wheat from heap here. And anything else they find from roaming the yard and nearby fields.
Main thing is keep them in at night away from foxes.
Main thing is keep them in at night away from foxes.
Old Boar
Member
- Location
- West Wales
My ten get a handful of mixed corn twice a day, and spend the whole time in the orchard or sifting the muck heap. They tend to lay out though, and the labrador finds the eggs with terrible results a few hours later. Or I find them with the brushcutter with slightly less terrible results but a few rude words.
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
Local miller uses dried grass meal for yolk colour.
Clive's hens have got real live grass equally good.
The hens will be ok free range, wheat, wheat cleaning, waste veg but most important they need some layers grit as a calcium source & for digestion in the crop.
Tip from 1920's book in winter tie a brussel sprout plant up, so the hens have to reach up & peck it. Then when all leaves have gone cut the stem so that they can peck out the inside of the sprout stem.
Padman white leghorns were laying 304 eggs a year back in 1919.
Clive's hens have got real live grass equally good.
The hens will be ok free range, wheat, wheat cleaning, waste veg but most important they need some layers grit as a calcium source & for digestion in the crop.
Tip from 1920's book in winter tie a brussel sprout plant up, so the hens have to reach up & peck it. Then when all leaves have gone cut the stem so that they can peck out the inside of the sprout stem.
Padman white leghorns were laying 304 eggs a year back in 1919.
what us in layers grit ?
Oyster shell and small bits of gravel basically. The crop works by an almost muscular contracting motion and the sharp bits of stone and shell help grind everything in the crop up before it goes to the stomach, like chewing. The oyster shell also contains calcium which helps harden the shell.
To be honest, if your hens are free ranging I wouldn't worry about giving them any extra stuff like that. They'll get plenty of gravel type stuff to help digestion and loads of bugs, full of calcium. You could feed egg shells back to them if you really wanted, it does the same job. Just crush them up and sprinkle them around with a bit of wheat.