Mash - recipes!

[Sunbeam]

Can someone tell me how to make layers mash? When I was knee-high to a grasshopper my mother cooked down all the veg peelings in a pot and mashed it up then gave it to the chickens - they went mad for it... mine turn their noses up! (And I consider myself to be a better than average cook - hmmm! ) I bought a horse net of carrots & parsnips, cooked them down for our rescue girls with some bran - they refused to even look at it! I have given them apples - NOPE!

They are happy with their diet of corn and the grubs etc they get from the garden (before we bought the house the original two were fed on a diet of kitchen left overs, pizza, curry etc by the previous owners no corn/pellets etc and apparently they were partial to spicy stuff)

Can anyone enlighten me with a classic recipe??

[Lesley Jay]

Sunbeam my Gran did the same with all the veg peelings - it didn't half smell a bit though!

[Lottie]

Layers mash that you buy dried in a sack has all the nutrients that a laying hen needs.

But if you mean mashed food, then years ago they used to cook peelings and add bran and corn and things

Chickens will turn their beaks up at 'proper' chicken food like layers mash and chicken pellets if they have been fed on other food. A bit like children - won't eat their greens if they have had junk food and sweets.

If chickens do not have a healthy 'chicken' diet, they can put on weight and go off lay. And a fat chicken is not necessarily a healthy one. I guess they will take a while to get used to healthy food after the previous owners gave them the pizzas etc.

[Sunbeam]

we've been here for 12 months and to be honest we have always given them corn & because they roam the garden scratching to their little hearts content I assumed they have got what they need from their foraging (grubs, grit, neighbours seedlings - we have had to put up extra fencing after a comment from our neighbour!) We did get pellets, but these would be left to go sludgy on the lawn. So at the mo they are eating corn,oystershell & any other goodies they can forage. Maybe I should try them again on the pellets??

[Squirrel]

It would be wiser to put your pellets in a proper feeder/holder out of the rain and the elements for them to eat when they feel so inclined. Are they shut away overnight? Perhaps put the feeder in their coop so they can eat before you let them out in the morning!

[Sunbeam]

The 3 rescue girls are in a converted kennel & have a small run that we shut them into at night - then in the morning they're let out to roam. The other two roost in the conifers at the back of the house - I thought when we adopted the rescue chickens they may decide to move to the chicken house too but they obviously love their tree! Do you think they ought to have pellets in addition to their diet of corn & garden bits?

[Squirrel]

It really is difficult to say whether they should get layers mash/pellets or not! If you have a really large area they probably get a good diet from all the grubs etc that they pick up during the day. If they are in a small garden then they might need extra feed. You say you give them grain so it could be that they are ok as they are.

With regard to your two hens that roost in the trees, have you tried feeding the corn inside the run just before they are ready to roost and when all the birds are in shutting the door behind them and confining them that way? If you manage to do this for four or so days, they should be content to go in there of their own accord. Mind you - hens will always prove you wrong whatever you say!

Sorry on ready this back does not really help you very much does it!

[Sunbeam]

They are pretty healthy & happy chickens & in the end I think that is all that's all that counts! (well except for annoying the neighbours by eating their plants & scratching up their seeds!!) They have a very large garden to scratch in, one half of which is left semi-wild, so they have a number of different plants to feed off, they have thick hedging under which to lay their eggs so I can't get to them & a puddy-cat to bully as and when they see fit!

What more can a chicken ask for (esp the poor rescue chickens) well except for a rooster, but my OH won't go for that - I may however buy some eggs from Sainsb's & put them under them when they go broody - may be I'll get chicks then! tee hee - won't he be suprised if they hatch!