No layers pellets!

[Snadger]

Ive been working quite a bit of overtime lately so so couldn't make my usual trip to the grain wholesaler on Sunday morning for the last couple of weeks. Bought a bag of layers pellets last week at an exorbitant price (about twice what i usually pay) from Jolley's the local pet shop.
Went there today and shock ,horror they had none, and I had no feed for chooks.

Bought a cheap loaf of bread at Sainsburys for them and filled there feeder with half a bag of mixed corn that I usually use as a treat before they go to bed.

Hopefully they will be ok until tomorrow when Jolleys say they should receive new stock.

Anybody else got any good makeshift feed ideas just in case?

[mothhawk]

Are they free range or penned in, Snadge? When i kept banties, they had free range of half an acre of garden and paddock, and I only gave them a couple of handfuls of wheat first thing in the morning, (between 20 banties and seemingly every sparrow in the neighbourhood) scattered on the ground, the rest of the day they foraged for themselves, and generally presented me with an egg each every day, unless they were feeling broody.

Layers mash/pellets is mostly wheat, barley and limestone. A cheap bag of muesli is a good substitute, it has added raisins and if you're lucky nuts or seeds. My grandfather used to boil up potato peelings for his birds, plus giving them all the vegetable trimmings - old cabbage leaves/stalks (great for calcium), carrot tops.peelings etc.

[Glutton4...]

I don't suppose it'll hurt 'em at all, Snadger. Cooked rice/pasta/potatoes or bread/broken biscuits will keep them full for a day or so. The only trouble with feeding substitutes, is that they may not eat the Pellets again, when provided. But they'll soon come round once the 'treats' stop for a few days.

[elizajay]

A friend of mine brought her elderly bantams to me to look after while she moved home. They all looked extremely healthy and wee laying and she told me she had given up on layers pellets because they never ate them so were fed on mixed corn and free ranged.

[Hans Mum]

Ive run out before and used pasta or rice or cooked spuds.....they'll eat anything really & an odd day without pellets wont be the worst thing for them

[roitelet]

Just a question, what did people feed chooks during the war when there were no layers pellets?

[chris]

scraps I think?

[roitelet]

And they still went on laying.

[Nicos]

Our local farmers tend to give corn/grain and bread...but they do supplement their own diet with insects- cos they free range.
Perhaps roitelet that's the difference????

[kirsty b]

I feed mine on a what the local pet feed place calls garden blend. It contains mixed corn, layers pellets split peas and grit. My girls love it. They also get supplemental greens and worms when I let them out. They also go belting into the kitchen for the dogs grub too if she has not eaten it quick enough.

[petal]

there is a wonderful book on my shelf written during the war for chicken and rabbit keepers that offers recipes. ours get lots of edible weeds from Spring to Autumn and very little in the way of pellets. Corn pm before bed though! We have lots of eggs and very good fertility in the pens!