Took me 3 years to realize I was drowning my chickens with too much protein in their feed

My rooster got sour crop and the vet said it was from my homemade layer mix having 22% protein when they only need 16%, who else has messed up their feed ratios without knowing?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_hart20d ago

Hold on, is it really the protein that caused the sour crop though? I've kept chickens for a while and sour crop is usually more about the balance of their gut bacteria or they ate something they shouldn't have, not just the number on the feed bag. A vet told me once that too much protein can mess with their kidneys over time, but it's pretty rare to directly cause sour crop unless the feed was also moldy or spoiled somehow. I run 20% protein on my layers during the cold months here in upstate New York because they need more energy to stay warm, and I've never had a problem as long as the feed is fresh and they have plenty of grit. Are you sure it wasn't maybe a big pile of wet grass or a weird fungal thing from some old feed? I'd double-check that diagnosis before you start cutting protein.

diana_flores2520d ago

@joseph_hart it's always the one thing you think you got right that backfires, isn't it.