[frenchliving]

Do you give your hens any scraps if so what?

I was told to buy a mixture of wheat and corn, but they pick out the corn and leave the wheat, so they just have corn now? i dont give them any kitchen waste as im not sure what they can and cant eat. any tips?

PS i live in france and the selection of premade chicken mix food is very limited/non existant so I cant buy a particular brand.

Somebody recommended giving carrot apple and garlic to feed my broody whos not moving much, what kind of ratio??

just general feeding advice would help (although they look ok) they do have full roaming all day so have access to all my lovely flowers beds and worms!! i have even seen them eating a mouse that darent to try and pinch their corn!

[Tony H]

I find layers pellets the best as it contains all that the chucks need, you can feed them on any veg, i dont know what the law is in france concirning kitchen wast but in uk its illegle, but if you are aloud in france then you can feed them on any kitchen wast exept meat, potato peelings are good but you have to boil them first. hope this helps

[frenchliving]

Thanks Tony H - what its illegal to feed your chickens with scraps off your plates?? (thats what i meant by kitchen waste - if so how bizarre) i cant see that being illegal here, they eat horse!!!

so if i gave my chooks veg, do I boil it or give it raw? chopped up or pureed?? same as potato peelings, once boiled do i just put them in there cage, or again puree it. is this as a treat or do you give these things regulary. Like I say they dont look underfed to be fair, just thought it would be nice for them to have something different!

[joyfull]

Hi, it might be best for you to send Casey 76 a message as she lives over in France and can let you know about the laws over there regarding food waste and poultry. Over here it is illegal to feed scraps from a domestic or commercial kitchen as Tony has pointed out.

[Casey76]

Where in France do you live?

There are several brands of poultry food available, and usually the local flour mill will also do their own version of food.

Again it really depends on where you live, in Alsace we are encouraged to feed kitchen scraps to hens.  Avoid meat, citrus, avocado and anything mouldy.  Everything else is on a "try it and see" basis.

Your hens should be fed on a 95%/5% basis of layers mash (farine) or pellets (granulé) and "treats" (anything which is not a compound feed).

[frenchliving]

thanks Casey76, im in SW France 47 Lot et garonne, totally the other side to you. I really cant believe its illegal in Uk and dont think it would be in this region we are know for being quite peasantry (you want to see what my neighbours eat never mind there chooks!!)

we tend to have looked for foods in garden centres type shops and have found volialle mix or ble and corn crushed, but they really dont like this, and much prefer corn (uncrushed) we have breed called crickets (think they are bantams) but the hens are not the true race crickets that we started with, we were unfortunate that buzzards came and took our two hens within days of each other and my cockerel was going mad, i asked a neighbour for a cricket and she gave me this hen (who is massive in comparison to the cockerel) but it calmed him down and stopped his constant crowing

we were initially given (or my son was) one cock and one hen and didnt want to keep chickens so hadnt researched this hence why my posts are quite niave.

so anyhints and tips are appreciated.

[Casey76]

You'll be OK.  If you can get to Gamm Vert (there is on in 47, but I don't know how far it is from you)

http://www.gammvert.fr/animaux/basse-cour.html

You are looking for the "poule pondeuse" range in the "basse cour" section of aminal feed.  You can also buy the "mélange volaille" grain, which is a mix of wheat, barley and maize, but use this as a treat/scratch only.  Avoid the pigeon mix, as it is too high protein, and the hens tend not to eat the peas anyway (I ended up with a lawn full of pea seedlings one year!)

[frenchliving]

Gamm Vert is really local (fortunately) thats what i meant by garden centre, like I say they dont like the melange or the poule pondeuse, should I not give in and leave it??

thanks

[Casey76]

You have to be tough   Leave the poule pondeuse down and don't give them anything else to eat - no treats, no scraps, no grain.

They will eat the layers in the end