Scratch grain is a mix of whole, cracked or crimped grains and seeds used as a treat for your flock. Because it does not offer balanced nutrition, this treat should only be fed occasionally – ideally in the afternoon after they have had their regular meals.
These winter treats can boost energy levels and build foraging skills while encouraging foraging skills, but should only make up 10% of their diet. Too much can cause weight gain and longer molts.
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1. Increases Egg Production
An effective chicken scratch mix can encourage natural eating habits, boost protein consumption and provide an enjoyable treat. However, it’s important to limit how often table scraps or other sources are given as giving too much can hinder egg production.
Early farmers would feed their poultry flock with extra or unfinished livestock feed or grains left scattered on the ground in order to supplement energy and nutrition needs. Now, scratch mixes made with cleaned grains, seeds and vegetables provide nutritionally balanced supplemental feed that may increase egg production. Hens that only rely on scratch tend to develop protein deficiencies due to eating carbohydrates and fat-rich ingredients favored in these mixes; additionally they’re not always fortified with vitamins and minerals like regular chicken feed is.
2. Enriches Their Diet
As long as it’s given in moderation, chicken scratch can add variety and enrich your flock’s diet, keeping them happier. Containing many whole grains such as wheat, barley, oats and cracked corn – it can easily be sprinkled onto their regular food to give a tasty boost!
Scratch mix can also include kitchen scraps (in moderation) and non-citrus fruits that provide essential nutrition for hens. As winter draws near, giving your hens some scratch before bedtime gives them an energy boost and can help them remain warmer throughout their night’s rest.
Scratch should never replace well-balanced laying hen feed that has been specifically tailored for its specific life stages, like layer feed. Layer feed will contain high levels of protein to promote egg production while scratch may contribute to protein deficiency and decrease in egg output due to her favorite ingredients being too high in fat and carbs such as sunflower seeds and corn.
3. Encourages Foraging Skills
Scratch grains, an unfortified mix of unfortified grains, seeds and nuts, fulfills chickens’ natural instinct to peck at food in order to discover and enjoy it. This is especially beneficial during coldest winter months when flocks tend to hibernate inside instead of foraging outdoors; scattering some scratch grains onto their coop floor before dusk can encourage movement – burning calories while producing body heat in turn!
Scratch grain can be a wonderful way to supplement your chickens’ diet, but it should never replace nutritionally balanced feed. Feeding solely from scratch grain could lead to health concerns such as nutritional imbalance, disease outbreaks, aggressive behavior and decreased egg production – snacks should only represent a small part of their daily food consumption and treat intake should remain limited – which helps avoid such problems altogether.
4. Boosts Energy Levels
Scratch grain feed provides chickens with energy to help sustain daily activities and endure environmental temperatures, providing extra energy through its mixture of unprocessed grains.
Scratch mixes typically consist of wheat, corn, oats, rye and other seeds as well as possible additions such as protein concentrate pellets, grit and vitamin/mineral supplements.
However, even fully fortified scratch mixes should not be fed as the sole source of nutrition to laying hens as this could result in nutritional imbalances such as protein deficits, poor egg production and an insufficient supply of vitamins and minerals. Instead, treat your flock occasionally with high quality layer feed mix tailored specifically to their needs as a treat that meets them both!
5. Keeps Chickens Healthy
Scratch grain should not form the bulk of your poultry’s diet; its nutrition deficiencies could compromise both their health and egg production if given in excess amounts.
Ideal, scratch should only be provided in small amounts in the afternoon after your flock has had time to finish its layer feed for the day, to ensure they receive all of their daily nutrients while also not filling up on energy-rich scratch and restricting their diet with essential nutrition.
As it’s essential that scratch mix contain only ingredients you wish to feed your flock, such as wheat, oats, barley and corn, this ensures you do not over-feed and leave excess food on the ground attracting rats, wild birds and other pests.
