What-toFeed.com

what to feed chickens to get eggs

by Viola Cronin Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

FEEDING CHICKENS FOR EGG PRODUCTION IN SMALL AND BACKYARD FLOCKS
  1. Providing vitamin and electrolyte supplements for more than 10 days.
  2. Supplementing complete feeds with cracked corn, oats, or other grains.
  3. Regularly adding green chops, lettuce, or other low nutrition ingredients to the diet.

What type of feed should I Feed my chickens?

  • Dairy products – poultry lacks the enzyme that allows them to digest milk on a large scale, but a small amount can prove beneficial to your flock. ...
  • Sweet Potatoes & Potatoes – Make sure they are cooked (we don’t eat raw potatoes and neither should your flock. ...
  • Corn – This is another what that is greatly debated in the world of chicken keeping. ...

More items...

What can I Feed my chickens to fatten them up?

What to Feed Chickens to Fatten them up?

  • Scratch Feed. Scratch feed is made out of different seeds and grains. ...
  • Mealworms. The idea of purchasing mealworms to feed your chicken would not be so appealing. ...
  • Cooked Oatmeal. Another effective method to fatten your chicken is to provide them with cooked oatmeal. ...
  • Bread. ...
  • Berries. ...
  • Yogurt. ...

What is the best thing to feed chickens?

  • Raw veggies, like cucumber peels, spinach, endive, and tomatoes
  • Fresh fruit, including watermelon and banana - or even the banana peel
  • Sprouted grain bread crusts
  • Juice pulp you otherwise might trash
  • Supplement with organic layer pellet feed, found at a local pet store or on Amazon.
  • A diet of ONLY commercially produced feed pellets. ...

More items...

How to feed chickens without buying feed?

Feeding chickens without “chicken feed”

  • Feeding chickens in the beginning. The Allen’s chickens enjoy their dinner. ...
  • Wasting feed. But the areas our hens had regular access to were severely overgrazed and when harvest season ended we expected to be feeding mostly layer ration.
  • Brew grain. ...
  • Dumpster diving. ...
  • A complete diet. ...

image

What is the best thing to feed chickens for eggs?

You don't have to go crazy with some cutting-edge feed that's guaranteed to make your chickens produce eggs the size of a garden gnome. It's recommended that you use a diet of premium laying mash or pellet, along with occasional fresh fruit. vegetables, meal worms and other healthy treats.

What to do to get chickens to lay more eggs?

There are several ways you can encourage your hens to lay in their nest boxes, ensuring that you get the maximum number of fresh, clean eggs.Provide the Right Number of Nest Boxes.Make the Nest Boxes Appealing.Collect the Eggs Regularly.Provide Enough Roosting Spots.Train Your Chickens With a "Nest Egg"More items...•

How come my chickens are not laying eggs?

Chickens stop laying eggs for a variety of reasons. Hens may lay fewer eggs due to light, stress, poor nutrition, molt or age. Some of these reasons are natural responses, while others can be fixed with simple changes and egg laying can return to normal.

What is the best grain to feed chickens?

The birds will readily eat whole wheat, whole oats or whole barley (but they can have difficulty eating whole corn). After about three weeks of eating whole grain, the hens' gizzards will increase in muscle mass and will grind the grain as efficiently as a hammer mill.

Does cayenne pepper help chickens lay eggs?

According to old-timers, cayenne pepper can be added to your chickens' feed in the cold months to help warm up your chickens and boost egg production.

How do I give my hens calcium?

Common Sources of Supplemental CalciumCrushed oyster shells- often sold at feed stores next to the layer feed (Highly Recommended!)Crushed eggshells- dry eggshells, crush them, and feed them back to your hens (Not Recommended as a replacement for oyster shells - *see below)More items...•

Things To Know

How you feed your chickens is obviously one of the more important tasks you can have when taking care of them since, you know, nobody can survive without food. This is not as easy as it looks though since getting it wrong can lead to reduced egg production, feather picking, and even deformed eggs which are of no use to anyone.

How To Feed Them?

If you have a small flock, the simplest way to provide for them is to buy a complete feed from a feed store. This way, you can make sure that all their nutritional needs are covered and they get a balanced diet.

How To Choose The Feed

If you want to go ahead with buying a feed, we recommend to always scour the market first and see exactly what products are available as well as the reviews on them. One bad feeding may not hurt your birds but you may not realize the feed is not what it should be after just one meal and you’ll never get back the time and money you spent buying it.

The Manner Of Feeding

Now that you know a little about what things your chickens should eat, what about the proper space required for their feeding? Some people like to throw the pellets straight onto the floor and let the birds peck at it, further encouraging this already natural behavior from them.

How Much To Feed Them?

Generally speaking, free-range chickens are different from their cousins that are being raised for industrial egg production. They won’t really overeat so whatever you feed them that is extra will simply remain untouched. You should remember though that any food left out overnight can attract mice that could potentially be dangerous for your birds.

SUPPLEMENTS

Chickens are compelled to scratch at the ground. They use their toes to mix up litter or scrape the ground in search of various seeds, greens, grit, or insects to eat. Spreading scratch grains (cracked, rolled, or whole grains such as corn, barley, oats, or wheat) encourages this behavior.

MEDICATED FEEDS

Medicated poultry feeds, which typically contain a coccidiostat and/or an antibiotic, are available. Coccidiosis can be hard to control through sanitation practices alone. Chickens benefit from being fed a coccidiostat at low levels. Mature chickens develop a resistance to coccidiosis if allowed to contract a mild infection of the disease.

FEEDING AND STORAGE

The way the chickens are fed is as important as the feed itself. Supply enough feeder space for all the chickens to eat at one time. With limited feeder space, some chickens do not get enough to eat. Place the feeders so that the trough is at the level of the chickens’ backs. This will reduce feed spillage.

REPLACEMENT PULLETS

The manner in which a pullet is raised to sexual maturity will have a lasting effect on the productive life of the hen. Pullets are grown to reach a certain body weight at a specific age. Many of the problems that occur in a laying flock can be traced back to insufficient body weight during the growing period.

LAYING HENS

Once your chickens start laying eggs (around 20 weeks of age) they should be switched to a layer feed. Layer feeds are formulated for chickens laying table eggs (those used for human consumption). Broiler feeds are formulated for those chickens producing hatching eggs (breeders).

MOLTING

Each year chickens molt (lose older feathers) and grow new ones. Hens typically stop egg production until after the molt is completed. There is considerable variability in the timing and duration of a molt. “Late molters” lay for 12 to 14 months before molting, whereas “early molters” can begin to molt after only a few months in production.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

How to feed your laying and breed flock. James Hermes, Oregon State University.

Step 1: A high protein diet

The foundation of that diet is the wheat grass fodder I grow. Wheat grass is very high in protein, and protein is key to healthy chickens and better tasting eggs. You can also use barley, but I use wheat because barley isn’t available in the quantities I need in my area, and I try to support local businesses.

Step 2: Fiber and Herbs

Along with the wheat grass, I add oatmeal, alfalfa, garlic (fresh or powdered), and dried oregano to my chicken’s feed. You can find those herbs in this non-GMO product I love:

Step 3: Fresh foods

I don’t use a set recipe. I just sprinkle and mix. I also add kitchen scraps, as well as fresh veggies like cabbage, tomatoes (which they can pick through), etc. Since it’s winter and their water keeps freezing, the fresh veggies help them stay hydrated in addition to giving me better tasting eggs.

1. Think about Protein Power

It’s worth remembering that the bulk of the nutritional value of eggs is supplied in the form of protein. If your chickens don’t have enough protein in their diet – those eggs are not going to shine – literally, more protein deepens that attractive yellow color of the yolk.

2. Go Green

Veggies are also an important part of the chicken’s diet that will contribute not only to keeping them healthy – but also encourage regular egg laying and optimize egg taste.

3. Fabulous Fiber

Your chickens are going to have to have a healthy dose of fiber to promote egg laying – and keep them healthy. The key is to keep up the carb content while balancing out their fiber needs.

4. Cracking the Shell Code

A healthy helping of calcium is an absolute essential to promote egg laying and the production of great looking, strong and tasty eggs.

5. Running Free

Sometimes it’s better to let nature find its own way. If you are lucky enough to have a substantial yard then make an effort to allow the chickens to forage for the food that they would enjoy if human beings were not providing nutritional help.

6. Always Hydrate

Aside from the fact that chickens may need supplementary feed in order to supply that perfect mix of fats, proteins, fiber and carbs they will also need a healthy source of water – and a lot of it.

Feeding Your Layers For Egg Production

The simplest and most effective way of feeding your flock of hens for egg production is to buy a complete feed intended for this purpose. Complete chicken feeds are processed to provide all essential nutrients needed by your egg-layers for better production.

Top 5 Chicken Feeds for Laying Eggs

Here comes Hiland-Naturals Non-GMO Chicken Grower feed for your hens. This brand offers different types of chicken feed, especially for layers. Also, you can provide it to your growers and starters if you want to.

1. Choose the right chicken breeds

The very first step to ensuring you get lots of eggs from your chickens is to choose the right breeds to begin with.

3. Add supplemental light in the coop

The hens laying cycle is directly affected by daylight. Most chickens will lay eggs consistently when there are 14 or more hours of light in a day. When fall begins and the daylight hours wane, chicken egg production takes a nosedive.

4. Deal with broody hens

Broodiness is another reason hens stop laying eggs, and if you have hens that frequently go broody, you’ll be missing out on a lot of eggs.

5. Check hens regularly for illness, parasites, and injury

One of the biggest reasons you’ll see a decrease in egg production is because your chickens aren’t healthy enough to lay eggs.

6. Up the quality of their feed

Dried mealworms make an excellent supplement to improve your hen’s health.

7. Reduce stress

Stress plays a big role in egg production. A stressed hen simply won’t lay eggs. Reducing the amount of stress in your hens lives will have a big impact on egg amount and quality.

image

Supplements

Medicated Feeds

Feeding and Storage

  • The way the chickens are fed is as important as the feed itself. Supply enough feeder space for all the chickens to eat at one time. With limited feeder space, some chickens do not get enough to eat. Place the feeders so that the trough is at the level of the chickens’ backs. This will reduce feed spillage. If bantams and large fowl are being fed from the same feeder, adjust the feeder t…
See more on poultry.extension.org

Replacement Pullets

  • The manner in which a pullet is raised to sexual maturity will have a lasting effect on the productive life of the hen. Pullets are grown to reach a certain body weight at a specific age. Many of the problems that occur in a laying flock can be traced back to insufficient body weight during the growing period. Commercially raised pullets receive three diets during the growing phase: st…
See more on poultry.extension.org

Laying Hens

  • Once your chickens start laying eggs (around 20 weeks of age) they should be switched to a layer feed. Layer feeds are formulated for chickens laying table eggs (those used for human consumption). Broiler feedsare formulated for those chickens producing hatching eggs (breeders). The diets are basically the same, but the breeder diets typically have...
See more on poultry.extension.org

Molting

  • Each year chickens molt (lose older feathers) and grow new ones. Hens typically stop egg production until after the molt is completed. There is considerable variability in the timing and duration of a molt. “Late molters” lay for 12 to 14 months before molting, whereas “early molters” can begin to molt after only a few months in production. Early molters drop only a few feathers a…
See more on poultry.extension.org

For More Information

  • How to feed your laying and breed flock. James Hermes, Oregon State University. Principles of feeding small flocks of chickens at home. David Frame, Utah State University. Molting of laying hens. Mississippi State University. BACK TO FEEDS AND FEEDING MENU
See more on poultry.extension.org

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9