protein for eggs

One of us helped neighbors slaughter two steers last week and brought the offal home. Organs that are not palatable to humans are ground to provide protein for chickens. A fist-sized lump of ground miscellany is protein supplement for about ten hens, raising their wheat ration (about 12% protein) closer to 16%.

This time of year, though, day length is primarily responsible for the major drop in egg production. It's an ongoing decision every day whether to keep supplementing the birds with protein through the winter for the sake of the relatively few eggs they'll lay, or to drop back to a maintenance ration and give them a rest.

When we run out of waste meat scraps and surplus milk, the question will answer itself.