It's that time of year. The poor girls are looking ragged, but a few more weeks and they should look better. Do any of you use dry kitten food to boost the protien content for the hens while they are "growing in"? If so, any down side to the practice?
Hen are in full moult
My hens will not eat cat food,I bought a bag last fall and tried different times to give it to them and noway!I give them extra black oil sunflower seeds,
Thats really a good question, to which I have no answer, but, I have heard some tell they use dog food, and cat food. I have never heard of any down side. I think I would use it sparingly but I see no reason to be alarmed at its use...Just my opinion. Thanks for joining us here, it's a pleasure...Hay
Mine will eat our dog's food. I get the hollistic kind w/beef and veg. Gosh, I can't remember the name of the stuff but if you read the ingredient list it reads like a recipe for pot roast. I give a couple of handfulls to the hens and the peacocks once a week. They really love the stuff! My gals moulted about three weeks ago--feathers everywhere! They were looking awful. I remembered that I had forgotten to give them some dog food in the last couple of weeks (I must be getting old=)), so I threw some in. You are right, they did start looking much better almost right away. Could have been that they were going to look better anyway but I don't think the dog food hurt anything anyway. And they get all excited and cackle all over the plance about dog food day! Fun!
I add dry dog food also. the only downside is that Ants love it too! Ive learned to not just pour some in their feeders but throw a few morsels out in there free range area . this encourages them to gobble it up quickly and get it off the ground before ants find it!
My hens steal the barn cats' food - probably daily. I have no idea what's in it, but it is very high in protein so it could help with the growth of new feathers, I suppose.
Cats have a higher protein requirement than dogs do, so the cat food would supply more protein.
On the other hand, I'm not at all sure about the pros and cons of any of the other 'gredients....
What is the protein content of the feed you usually give them?
Maybe just buy a higher protein content feed for the period of their molt????
I buy equal amounts of 16% and 20% lay pellets every time I go to the feed store and I mix them 1/2-1/2, because I'm trying to give them an 18% ration. It probably would make sense to cut out the 16% for a couple of weeks while they go through their molt.
Susan