What to Feed Your Chickens
Chickens need a balanced diet. So try to get the best quality feed you can buy for your chickens for optimal health. Good health = nice eggs and less sick days (hopefully)! Also do not feed your chickens anything mouldy or 'off' food because it can make them sick.
The pellet feed:
Ideally, you should feed your chickens an all-in-one pellet feed rather than scratch mix to ensure they get all the necessary nutrients. This is especially important if your chickens do not have access to a big area for free-ranging. What type of feed your chicken will depend on the age of your chicken:
The pellet feed:
Ideally, you should feed your chickens an all-in-one pellet feed rather than scratch mix to ensure they get all the necessary nutrients. This is especially important if your chickens do not have access to a big area for free-ranging. What type of feed your chicken will depend on the age of your chicken:
- If its a chick then you will want to get Chick Starter feed until about 6 weeks of age. I fed my young pullets a mix of chick starter and Pullet feed when I had to transition to the Pullet feed. However Country Heritage feed makes a chicken starter crumble feed that can be fed to chicks to point-of-lay- I will probably use this in the future as it means I don't have to worry about changing feeds.
- Young pullet (about 6 weeks to point-of-lay). I feed my pullets Lauke Mills Red Hen Pullet. My bantams love this particular feed as it has a mixture of small pellets and grains.
- Point-of-lay and laying chickens (about 18-22 weeks +). I've tried an organic layer feed and a micro pellet Layer feed and found that my bantams really are not keen on the lovely organic feed that I bought. The pellets I think are a little too big. So I'll be sticking with the non-organic micro pellet feed for now.
Treats:
For advice on treats check out this chart on Backyard Chickens site. I haven't fed all of the things listed in the chart but I know my chickens love oats (raw), sesame seeds, cooked beef mince meat, finely diced cooked meats, mealworms, cooked pasta, rice and bread. I've given them finely chopped spaghetti bolognese, curry and spiced rice, which they have loved. I won't feed my chickens any kind of chicken meat though. I personally think that it is wrong but you will find many people do if you trawl through Google looking for advice. Meat from a different animal I do not have a problem with as chickens are omnivores but I do not consider chickens to be naturally cannibalistic. Limit the treats though to avoid nutritional imbalances- I know my chickens will gorge on treats and forgo their usual feed if I were to let them. In the winter though I am a bit weak and give the girls and Duke a little extra oats and tidbits in the afternoon. Treats are also great if you want your chickens to become your friend and get them to eat out of your hand. My daughter has also found that Matilda will jump for her treat of bits of bread if she isn't fast enough in giving it to her! Needless to say, my daughter is thrilled that she can 'train' her pet to jump! But remember too much is bad. Read a bit about why its bad to give your chickens lots of bread etc at HenCam. Also have a look at the Plants for Chickens and Additional Treatments for Chickens. |
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