When choosing feed for your chickens, you will have to account for their age and your goals for them. Chickens being kept for meat will require different feed than those being kept for eggs.
How to Feed Chicks
Start out your chicks on 20-22% protein for egg producers and up that to twenty-four percent for meat chickens. Use chick starter until the age of 6-9 weeks (depending somewhat on the breed of chicken and how quickly it matures). After maturity, the feed should be switched to “broiler finish” grains until they are ready for slaughter (if meat hens) – otherwise, continue with the egg feed.
Many who raise meat chickens should use feed that has antibiotics to prevent Coccidiosis. This is also a good idea for any hen unless you are planning to sell products that are “free range” or “organic”.
Often, those who raise their own meat hens do so in order to avoid the large number of hormones given to commercially-raised chickens.
Chickens as Adults
Once hens reach adulthood, they are often moved to a fourteen percent protein feed. Calcium is also very important for egg layers and for large breed chickens such as Jersey Giants.
Adult hen feed comes in crumbles, pellets, mash and scratch. A balanced diet for chickens is usually made by mixing scratch with pellets or crumbles and supplementing with calcium and vegetables.
Many supplement their hen’s calcium intake by adding clean, crushed egg shells into the feed. Chickens know what they need, so they’ll eat what they require if it’s available.
Vegetables and Peelings
Healthy and happy hens can be had by adding things like spinach, romain, apple peelings, carrot peels, and whole grains like oatmeal, barley, and small amounts of fruit. These are supplements, however, not replacements for chicken feed. Your hens must have the protein and other nutrients that is provided by a good hen feed unless they are totally free range in a very nutritious environment.
So long as it’s fresh and not a meat product, it can be thrown to the chickens instead of the garbage.
Chicken Mobiles
A hen tractor has the advantage of allowing you to move your flock from place to place in your yard. This keeps the vegetation, available bugs, and grit fresh and the chickens interested. This is a good way to do it if you do not have the room for free range, or need to protect your hens from daytime predators.
This means the hens won’t have a chance to scratch an area down to nothing.
Hazards
Beware of using pesticides and fertilizers in any area where your hens might feed. They are not picky when pecking at granules on the ground and can poison themselves and your eggs.
Weed killers and sprays can poison hens who eat the plants they’ve been sprayed on. Whatever your hens eat ends up in them and their eggs. In fact, pesticides and chemicals can show up in the chicken’s eggs long before the chicken itself shows signs of illness.
Chickens raised properly can provide eggs and meat with great nutritional value for your family. When you feed chickens well they will provide you with years of fresh eggs every day.
Check out Chicken Coop Plans for information about how to build your own chicken coop.
For an even easier project, view Chicken Coop Kits.