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Hi
A novice with a question here so be gentle with me! Haven't got the chickens yet - next feew days hopefully. Have the opportunity to grow our own corn this year so was wondering if anyone could give me their thoughts ont he following:
1- do they actually like eating it?
2- combined with green kitchen scraps and being free range, will corn be enough or will they need more to eat?
3- do you think it is really worth growing it ourselves?
4- do corn-fed chickens really taste better??
Thanks!

Corn/maize to chickens is like candy to children! It is a warming grain for them, and should only be fed in moderation. I only feed it during the cold seasons here (late autumn through winter), and of all the grains they are fed, it's always the first they all pick out (as do the ducks, the turkeys, the pigeons and the geese!). If you feed too much they can get fat on it, but it's also a good grain to fatten those which are meant for the chop. All our birds are free-ranging, but when I have a group of cockerels destined for eating, I pen them in a large area and feed them up on corn for a couple of weeks (in addition to their scraps, etc).

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

Sorry, I realise I didn't answer your other questions!

It's best to provide a combination of grains, as well as a source of calcium and protein, as chickens are omnivorous (and they LOVE meat!).

Corn fed. I think that might work for commercial strains of meat birds, but tends to put fatty deposits on other breeds. I also think it makes a blander flavoured bird if you over feed. Best to provide a mix of grains over the course of their lives, and if they're a growing bird, protein and calcium (though not as much calcium as a layer should get) is important. Calcium can be made available in the form of crushed eggshells (which is what we do) as well as oyster shell grit.

Kitchen scraps and corn and a few other grains should be adequate for chooks, as well as all the compost-type material you have access to, for them to fossick through. It helps it break down as they scratch through it, as they add their own fertiliser to it.

Corn can be easy to grow, but it also sucks nitrogen out of the soil, so you will have to be sure to replenish it after each crop (a good nitrogen-fixing green manure crop would be a good thing to sow when you aren't growing corn, and then turn it back into the soil).

I hope this isn't too disjointed, as I am feeling rather muzzy this morning, it being autumn and me wanting to just pull my head in for the winter and hibernate!

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

my chooks are layers rather than eaters.

the distinction is quite important because if an egg laying bird gets too fat she is more likely to get a prolapse when passing an egg.
Therefore, the advice given to me was to confine the birds in the morning in their run where there is only access to layers mash or pellets.

In the afternoon my girls free range, munching on grass and bugs.

On colder evenings we throw a few handfuls of corn into the run for them which helps to maintain their body heat during the night.

I know this is advice for layers, but if you decide to keep a few for that purpose, we have found this to be the best way.

almost forgot to say.... in the winter months when they look really miserable trying to scratch in freezing, rock hard ground, a couple of corns on the cob (either dried or frozen then thawed) really perks them up and keeps them entertained for hours on end if confined to their run.
I am growing my own this year so I know it's not been sprayed

wow, interesting replies... will have to read them again tomorrow since my brain has already gone to sleep tonight
flower - how much corn are you planning on growing this year? how much per chicken?

well I love corn too so I have sixty 'kernels' to plant.
I grew 24 last year and it wasn't nearly enough.

I was thinking of growing some of the mini stuff too but someone told me there is a problem with growing two varieties of corn too close...they cross and the sugar turns to starch....more research needed

how many chickens do you have, flower?

I have five...2 hybrids (Boudicca and Guinevere)
and three tarty bantams 1 buff wyandotte (Racey lacey)
1 lavender aracauna (Madame Bloolay)
and 1 white frizzle (who had a posh name but the kids couldn't say it so she's simply called frizz)

They all live in a bright pink 'eglu' in the back garden
They give us 20 or so eggs a week and lot's of fertiliser for our allotment.

My husband has made a chook tractor at the plot and we're going to see how good the hybrids are are clearing couch grass this week