What Should You Feed Chickens?

The choice of feed depends partly on whether you are feeding laying hens for egg production or chickens for the table. Chickens free to roam outdoors will forage for food in the garden or field. They will also enjoy table scraps, vegetable scarps and, oddly enough, are known to really enjoy sour milk. However, egg layers need a lot of energy to produce those eggs. Chicks too are attempting to put on four pounds in just eight weeks and that takes a lot of energy input in the form of good quality feed. Commercially produced feed are formulated to include all the nutrients a bird needs. Specialist feed supplier will provide feed tailored to the specific stage of a bird's life and the end purpose (eating or eggs). Like humans chickens need carbohydrate, fats, vitamins and minerals. Commercial egg producers now deliberatedly feed hens with products stuffed full of Omega 3 oils which boosts the Omega 3 content of the eggs we buy.

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Even a chicken on a commercial feed needs fresh greens. The leaves you would throw out from a head of lettuce, grass clippings, and table scraps, and yes sour milk (if you have goats making more milk than you and use - feed it to the chickens!) and the whey from making soft cheese. They will even benefit from eating any eggs you don't get around to using, and the shells of the ones you do - oyster shell is also available from you feed store. If you feed them their own eggs, break and scramble them so the birds don't get the idea that their eggs are edible.

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