Janet Wilson
Most chicken keepers buy their first bag of scratch without really knowing what it is. I did. I grabbed a 50-pound bag of Purina Scratch Grains off the feed store shelf about nine years ago because it was cheap, the chickens went absolutely crazy for it, and honestly I assumed “scratch” was just another word for chicken food. It took me embarrassingly long to figure out I’d been partially undermining my own flock’s nutrition for months.
Here’s the thing nobody says clearly enough upfront: scratch grains are a treat. Full stop. They’re not a feed replacement, not a nutritional supplement, not a substitute for layer pellets. They’re the chicken equivalent of popcorn. And just like popcorn, a little is fine and a lot is a problem.
That framing changed how I use scratch entirely, and I think it’ll change how you use it too.
- Scratch grains are a treat (typically 10% or less of daily diet), not a complete feed.
- High carbohydrate content raises body temperature, making scratch useful in winter but risky in summer heat.
- Most commercial scratch mixes are 7-10% protein; layer feed runs 15-18%. The gap matters.
- Feeding too much scratch dilutes protein intake and can suppress egg production within 2-3 weeks.
- Whole corn scratch generates more metabolic heat than cracked corn or mixed grain blends.
What Scratch Actually Is (And What’s in the Bag)
“Scratch grains” refers to any mix of cracked, rolled, or whole grains fed as a supplement to poultry. The name comes from the old practice of scattering grains on the ground so chickens would scratch around to find them, which gives them exercise and mimics foraging behavior. That part is genuinely good. The behavioral enrichment is real.
What’s inside the bag varies a lot by brand and price point. Cheap scratch is often just cracked corn and maybe some milo (grain sorghum). Mid-range products like Purina Scratch Grains or Kalmbach Feeds Scratch typically add wheat, milo, and oats to the corn base. Premium blends from producers like Scratch and Peck Feeds layer in sunflower seeds, peas, and sometimes barley. I’ve seen bags labeled “scratch” that were 90% cracked corn and bags that had eight or nine different grains. The label tells you what’s inside, but a lot of keepers don’t bother reading it.
What surprised me was how dramatically the protein content swings between products. When I finally started comparing nutrition tags side by side, some of the bargain scratch bags listed protein at 7%, while layer pellets from the same shelf ran 16-18%. That’s not a small difference. If a hen is filling up on scratch, she’s leaving less room in her gut for the feed that actually supports egg production and feather quality.
The Heat Metabolism Factor
This is the part of scratch science I find genuinely interesting, and it’s also where the conventional advice gets nuanced.
Digesting high-carbohydrate grains generates body heat through a process called thermogenesis. Scratch grains, being mostly carbs, produce more metabolic warmth during digestion than protein or fat sources. This is useful in winter: scattering scratch in the coop an hour or two before the hens go to roost gives them a slow internal heat source through the night. I’ve been doing this for years, especially when overnight temps drop below 20°F. The research supporting this is reasonably solid, though the practical magnitude varies by bird size and coop insulation.
The flip side is summer. Feeding large amounts of scratch when it’s 95°F outside adds internal heat load to birds that are already struggling. This genuinely can contribute to heat stress in heavy breeds like Buff Orpingtons or Jersey Giants. I made this mistake during a brutal July heat wave years ago, kept up my usual generous scratch habit, and noticed my Barred Rocks panting more than I’d expect. Once I cut scratch back to almost nothing and focused on cold watermelon, electrolyte water, and shade, they settled down. Correlation isn’t causation, but I haven’t pushed scratch hard in summer since.
Comparing Common Scratch Products
Since the market has a lot of options at pretty different price points, here’s how some common products stack up as of August 2026:
| Product | Primary Grains | Protein % | Typical Price (50 lb) | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purina Scratch Grains | Corn, milo, wheat | 8% | $14-17 | Budget winter treat, widely available |
| Kalmbach Feeds Scratch | Corn, milo, oats, wheat | 9% | $16-19 | Slightly more balanced mix |
| Manna Pro Cracked Corn | Corn only | 7% | $12-15 | Pure heat-generation, minimal nutrition |
| Scratch and Peck Feeds Scratch | Corn, wheat, barley, oats, peas, sunflower | 12% | $28-34 | Higher protein, organic options available |
| Small Pet Select Chicken Scratch | Wheat, oats, barley, corn, flaxseed | 11% | $30-36 | Good grain variety, no milo |
The Scratch and Peck product is genuinely different nutritionally, close enough to a partial feed that I’d almost reconsider the “treat only” rule if I were using it at low rates. But at $30+ per bag, your per-pound cost is roughly double the Purina option. For most backyard flocks, the difference doesn’t justify it if you’re staying under the 10% threshold anyway.
How Much Is Actually Too Much
The standard recommendation is that scratch should make up no more than 10% of a hen’s daily intake. In practice, that’s roughly 1-2 tablespoons per bird per day, not a generous double handful scattered around the whole run every morning and afternoon.
I’ll be honest: I’ve tested what happens when you push past that threshold over time. A few years ago I had a reader (Sarah from central Ohio, emailed me in late fall) who was convinced her flock of 14 Rhode Island Reds had just “stopped laying for the season.” After some back and forth about their diet, it came out that she’d been feeding scratch twice a day, probably 1/3 cup per bird per feeding, because she liked watching them run for it. That’s a lot of empty carbohydrate calories displacing layer feed protein.
Scenario: 14 Rhode Island Reds, heavy scratch feeding (~30% of diet by volume) over 6 weeks in fall. Sarah reduced scratch to a single small scatter in the morning (about 1 tablespoon per bird), ensured free-choice layer pellets all day, and added oyster shell on the side. Result: egg production went from 3-4 eggs daily back up to 9-11 within 3 weeks. Not a dramatic turnaround time, but steady and clear.
The research here is genuinely mixed on exact thresholds, and I don’t want to pretend there’s a precise number that applies to every flock size, breed, or climate. But the 10% guideline is a reasonable starting point, and the consequences of exceeding it show up in egg production data fairly quickly.
What to Do With It (Practically)
The best uses I’ve found for scratch:
Scatter it in the run over fresh straw or leaves. The foraging behavior this creates keeps bored birds occupied for a surprisingly long time. It’s cheap entertainment for birds that would otherwise be picking at each other.
Use it as a training reward. Chickens learn to come when called faster than most people expect, and scratch is a better “recall treat” than most options because it’s dry, easy to scatter, and doesn’t attract flies the way fruit or table scraps do.
Winter evening feeding, about an hour before roost. Small amount, whole corn or a corn-heavy mix, timed to give them something to digest overnight. In my experience with harsh midwest winters, birds that get a small evening scratch ration seem to roost tighter and more calmly than those that don’t. I can’t prove causation, but I’ve kept doing it.
What I wouldn’t do: free-choice scratch in a feeder. I see this sometimes and it’s a real nutritional mistake. When scratch is available 24/7, hens self-select for the carbohydrates over their layer pellets, probably because it tastes better to them, and protein intake tanks.
Sources
- Nutrient Requirements of Poultry, National Research Council (9th edition): baseline protein and energy requirements for laying hens.
- Penn State Extension, “Feeding Chickens in the Backyard Flock”: practical guidance on scratch grain limits and treat feeding ratios.
- Damerow, Gail, “The Chicken Health Handbook” (Storey Publishing): covers nutritional deficiency symptoms related to incomplete diets.
- Manufacturer nutrition labels: Purina, Kalmbach, Scratch and Peck, Manna Pro (accessed August 2026 for current protein percentages).
- University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, “Poultry Nutrition and Feeding”: thermogenesis and metabolic heat from grain digestion in cold climates.
Photo: Erwin Bosman via Pexels
