Thread: chicken feed
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Old 01-24-2013, 01:29 PM   #2 (permalink)
crazy banana
 
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Default Re: chicken feed

Absolutely No. Do not kill your girls. Blood Meal and lime is for plants and their environment but needs to be kept far away from chickens.
A balanced layer food of 16% protein with vitamins and minerals is always the best and healthiest diet for chickens besides free ranging. Scratch and other stuff is just like chocolate for humans and should be given wisely. There might be times where they do need a little more protein like when they are having their annual molt. At that time you can give a flock raiser which has a slightly higher protein content than the layer mentioned above. Depending if your chickens free range or not you can add protein to their diet by feeding them meal worms. Yoghurt is also a good probiotic protein source with many other health benefits. But also be careful with a too high protein content( other than mentioned above) as it can cause some serious health problems like kidney failure in your birds.
Ground limestone or ground oyster shell ( not "dolomitic" limestone which can be detrimental to egg production) can be offered to chickens in a dish separate from their feed. It is calcium carbonate and can make eggshells strong.
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