How I feed my chickens so they lay well in the winter.

Winter here is no brief affair.  It is 5 1/2 to 6 months of long dark days,  snow that never leaves, is combined with cold temperatures of -20C for months and extremes of -50 C for a few days.   I do use electric light and below -20 C I use a heat lamp to warm the hens.  

I have studied the feeding of chickens thoroughly and have a good understanding of nutritional science.   I use commercial feed and have confidence that it contains 17 % protein, and has added methionine and lysine to ensure enough essential amino acids, that protein is absorbed and used effectively.  

The big difference between summer and winter is that there is no access to green vegetation or insects.  This means that the protein intake is limited to what is in the feed.  I am a vegetarian and so my chickens get a few food scraps but nothing that includes meat.  

In my research I found that before amino acid supplements began to be addd to layer ration that meat and bone scraps were added to chicken feed.  After the BSE  crisis this was deemed to be too risky.   I found numerous references to the use of milk and whey being one way to provide animal based protein in poultry diets and decided to try it in January when egg production was in a slump.  I have used whey powder but it’s expensive.  Powdered skim milk is what I use instead.   I use 1/2 Tablespoon or 3 grams per bird per day.  I mix it up with water and make a feed mash or let them drink it while warm during the coldest times.   This adds about 2 % additional protein to their ration and helps to address the otherwise complete lack of animal protein in their diet from insects.

The response in laying is almost immediate They lay almost as well in the winter as summer.  I think it also helps to prevent egg eating and cannabolism. I have two years of experience with this now and the skim milk powder is definitely worth the added expense and is paid for by my customers who are still able to buy eggs from me in mid winter.

Here is one place where I found this information but there are many other references if you start digging.

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/ppp/ppp7.html

Importance of Animal Feeds

It is believed that animal food of some sort is necessary to maintain fowls in vigorous health and productivity, whether the aim be flesh or eggs. Probably no one thing has done more to increase profits than feeding animal food. Scarcity of eggs during winter is largely due to deficiency in this line. Chickens when at liberty during the summer secure abundant animal food in the form of bugs and worms. Something to take the place of this feed is necessary, especially when snow is on the ground. Doubtless lean meat is the best form to feed. It furnishes ample protein. The presence of a little fat does no harm, but may be an advantage. Fresh meat scrap from the butcher's is an excellent egg maker. Butchers often keep bone cutters to sell ground meat and bones to poultrymen. When flocks of 25 hens or more are kept it will then pay to own a bone cutter. These butcher scraps contain large quantities of bone, which the fowls eat very greedily along with the meat. Much of the mineral matter for making shell and other parts of the ash of the egg may be secured through bone.

Skim milk is a good substitute for animal feed if given liberally, but it is not concentrated enough. It contains about 90 per cent water or only about 10 per cent of food. When used as a drink hens will not take enough of it to supply their demand for animal feed. Milk is well used for mixing the wet mashes, by feeding it clabbered, and best in the form of cottage cheese, which is a particularly good form when well made.

A good way to make cottage cheese is to set the dish of skim milk where the temperature will range between 75 and 80 degrees for 18 to 24 hours, by which time the milk will have thickened. It should then be broken up into pieces about the size of peas or smaller. The dish should then be set in a pail of hot water and the curd stirred until its temperature is 90 or 95, when it should be held at this heat for 15 or 20 minutes without stirring. The contents of the dish should then be poured into a cotton sack and hung up where the whey may drain off. Care must be exercised not to allow the milk to boil. After the whey has drained off a little salt should be added. This cheese will keep in mild weather for a day or two; longer in cool weather.

Doubtless the most convenient form in which to feed animal food is beef scrap, a by-product of the large packing houses. It has been boiled and dried, and as it reaches the poultryman contains meat and bone in varying proportions, but should analyze 50 to 60 per cent protein. It also varies in quality, but should always be light colored, have a meaty flavor and be rather oily to the touch. When boiling water is added to it, it should smell like fresh meat. If a putrid odor is given off it should not be fed.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/production/poultry/poultry-rations-and-feeding-methods.html

RATIONS FOR LAYING HENS
Egg production, to be profitable, must continue at a reasonably high level through most of the year. Hens turned loose to forage in the spring and only grain fed, soon lay themselves thin, cease laying, moult and spend the summer and fall growing new feathers; moreover any eggs they lay are likely to be of "barnyard" quality and low grade. Laying hens require some form of protein supplement in addition to grain and chop. Similarly they need more vitamin and mineral materials than grains contain. Most poultry raisers recognize the importance of the diet in winter egg production. Generous summer feeding is equally important, since profit depends upon a steady production of eggs. A farm supplied with wheat and coarse grains, well-cured alfalfa or clover hay, and plenty of skimmilk, provides practically everything required in the laying diet. Some form of Vitamin D supplement is needed for winter or indoor conditions. Hens aren't likely to drink enough milk in cold weather to supply their protein requirement; this may be met by the use of laying concentrates or balancers, meat meal, fish meal, cooked meat or fish, etc. In any case the flock should have an ample daily feeding of alfalfa or clover leaves, or else limited pasture. Laying hens require a constant supply of oyster shells or limestone grit; also bone meal in a separate hopper when milk is used as the main protein supplement. Provide fresh clean drinking water at all times, or as soon as the daily amount of milk is consumed.

One objection I do see mentioned about milk is that it contains too much water to be an effective substitute for more dense protein supplements.  To which I would say that’s what is so good about powdered milk,  the amount of water is up to you.  If you tried to use nothing but milk as a protein source then it would be a problem.   At 2% protein it works very well as a supplement to commercial ration.

How much skim milk powder do you need to use?  The formulas above use 3-4 percent by weight  I am using 3 percent but the next study done with broilers not layers found a marked difference in productivity with just 0.5 percent milk powder by weight.  So perhaps some experimentation is in order to see if it could be reduced from 3 percent for layers.  

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mutasem-Al-Masad/publication/281801318_Effect_of_Milk_Powder_Supplementation_on_Growth_Performance_of_Broilers/links/5803244d08ae310e0d9decf2/Effect-of-Milk-Powder-Supplementation-on-Growth-Performance-of-Broilers.pdf?origin=publication_detail

Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of adding milk powder on the growth performance of broilers. Two hundred Lohman broiler males were purchased and reared for 35 days. Chicks were randomly divided into two groups, each group assigned to 10 experimental units and reared in 10 identical pens (10 birds/m2). After a week from purchasing, birds were weighed and assigned to two diets, the control diet (0% milk powder) and the experimental diet (0.5% milk powder). Feed intake and body weight gain were recorded weekly, while feed conversion ratio was calculated. It was noted that body weight gain was improved at week four and five of the experimental period for birds fed rations supplemented with 0.5% of milk powder compared with birds fed the diet contains 0% milk powder with an average body weight gain of 1.20 and 1.92 kg for birds fed 0.5% milk powder diet, and 1.11 kg 1.71 kg for birds fed 0% milk powder diet. A significant difference (p < 0.05) was shown in feed conversion ratio for the birds fed 0.5% of milk powder diet from week two till five with 1.39, 0.89, 0.84, and 0.59 respectively, compared with birds fed the 0% milk powder diet with 1.55, 0.99, 0.97, and 0.69 respectively. Therefore, feeding broilers rations supplemented with 0.5% milk powder significantly (p < 0.05) increased weight gain and feed conversion ratio compared to birds fed 0% milk powder diet, which indicate that milk powder supplementation might be effective and improved growth performance.

What does the Manitoba Agriculture Dept.  think of the feeding advice given in 1945 today?   They say we have come a long way since then and although the old methods work, better results can be obtained with modern feeds and that you should not try to use milk instead of soy been meal for example.  

The old methods will keep poultry alive and somewhat productive but people should understand that commercial rations were not widely available during those times and the average hen laid not more than 100-150 eggs per year.
Personally I would not feed milk or green vegetation instead of ration only in addition to it.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/production/poultry/print,comments-poultry-rations-and-feeding-methods.html

Comments - Poultry Rations and Feeding Methods
"Poultry Rations and Feeding Methods" was published in 1945 and has stood the test of time surprisingly well. Although some of the diets illustrated in the factsheet are inadequate for modern strains of poultry, many of the recommendations hold true today. As you read this publication, you should be aware of some of the ways in which the feeding of chickens and turkeys has improved in the past 60 years. The major innovations have been the use of soybean meal and commercial vitamin-mineral premixes.
1) Ingredients Used
Fish Oils - were one of the few ways of increasing the levels of Vitamin A and D in poultry rations prior to the development of commercial vitamin premixes. People wanting to feed fish oils should take care in choosing the oil that they feed to their birds. Some modern sources of fish oil have been super-fortified with vitamins and vitamin toxicity could result if too much is given to the birds. Also, feeding as little as 1% fish oil (1 lb. oil in 100 lbs. feed) can give a definite fishy taste to the meat or eggs. Finally, fish oil is prone to going rancid and rancid fat can cause vitamin deficiencies and other problems in the birds.
Milk and Skim Milk - were commonly fed to livestock in the 1940's to help make use of excess milk production from the family cow or the skim milk left over after the cream was sold to a creamery. Because commercial vitamin premixes were not commonly available, milk was a useful, if incomplete, vitamin source for poultry. Modern vitamin premixes offer a wider range and much higher levels of vitamins than possible by feeding milk (or milk and green feed). Milk was also used in the past as a modest source of protein but provided far less protein than supplied by the soybean added to modern rations. Because milk is 90% water and only 3.5% protein, birds must drink large quantities of milk to supply a small portion of their daily needs. For example, a laying hen needs to consume 16 grams of protein each day to maintain egg production and she would need to drink 0.1 litres a day just to supply ¼ of this daily requirement. (This is basically the amount recommended in "Poultry Rations and Feeding Methods").You would need to keep the milk trough full (and the water trough empty) for half of each day for the hens to drink this much milk. This amount of milk would supply only about 3% of the calcium needed for good shell quality. Such high levels of milk may cause diarrhea because birds produce low amounts of the enzyme needed to digest milk sugars.
Pasture - when green and succulent, will provide a good source of certain vitamins such as Vitamin A. Modern vitamin premixes used in purchased feed, however, provide higher levels of vitamins than pasture (or pasture and milk). It should be remembered that fresh grass is 75% moisture and while birds will eat lots of it, the grass will only account for up to 10% of their dry matter intake. Because the grass is less digestible than most ingredients used in poultry diets, it will supply only 5 to 10% of their nutritional needs. Birds on pasture should be fed a complete, balanced diet and the nutrients from the grass should be treated as a bonus. It would be foolish to believe putting your birds out on pasture will let you feed cheaper or poorer quality rations. On farms which do not have adequate or properly ventilated barns, the major benefit of pasturing the birds will be the improvement in environment, not