Thursday, December 29, 2011

Feeding poultry



Some of the things to keep in mind while watching this video is that crumbles and lay pellets are the main feed for adult laying poultry.   Also an additional supplement that you may want to add to their diet is Oyster shell. Oyster shell is added to the diet if your hens are laying eggs with shells that are too thin. In contrast; If the egg shells are too thick you may want to cut back on how much calcium or oyster shell is in their diet.
It should also be noted; chicken scratch or cracked grains should not be used as their sole diet. It does not provide enough protein for them to lay eggs and may result in vitamin deficiencies.

2 comments:

  1. Hello, I've got about 6 weeks before I butcher my turkeys. Right now they're eating an 18% game bird ration, mixture of whole grains, and a little corn & soaked alfalfa pellets. Everything but the game bird feed are things that I feed to other animals so I also give a little to the turkeys. Are there feeds you would recommend to improve the flavor/quality of the birds? Thank you so much for doing the turkey butchering videos! That will be so helpful.

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  2. Sorry that I did not responded sooner. As for the feed, corn and other high fat content feeds are something that commercial growers use a lot of to add weight the birds at market. Personally I think a little fat is okay but a lot of fat is just a mess and makes the bird a lot of work to butcher because the fat has to be trimmed. Range free birds are probably the best tasting as the animal gets a larger variety of feed including natural proteins such as insects. Table scraps should be avoided a month before butchering along with any pungent plants out of the garden such as onions radishes and such. As you may end up with a Turkey with a strong pungent flavor.
    I am curious as to why you soak your alfalfa pellets?

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