what to feed hens to produce more eggs

Chicken Feed

There are various types of formulated feeds available in the market for chickens according to their age and types of hens. You will find feeds for your chicks, growing chicks and mature one.

Greens

Chickens enjoy all kinds of greens including grasses, leaves, plants etc. Fresh greens, tender grass clippings, table scraps, vegetables etc. are effective greens for your laying hens.

Scratch Mix

Naturally chickens love to scratch up the soil and eat bugs, insects, grit and greens. You can provide your hens scratch mix that is an assortment of grains and seeds like barley, corn, oats or wheat.

Supplemental Calcium & Vitamins

Supplement the feed of your laying hens with extra vitamins and calcium whether they eat commercially prepared feed or feed free range. Calcium helps to make the eggshells strong.

Water

Along with feeding high quality and nutritious feeds, your laying hens also need a consistent water source. Normally, chickens drink double or triple than the total amount of feed they consume each day.

Check the Label

Bags of chicken feed will have labels attached that list the ingredients and the nutritional makeup. Check to make sure that the above list of nutrients are supplied in proper amounts. Too much or too little can have an adverse effect on the health and production of your flock.

Keep it Fresh

Don’t stock up on more ground, pellet, or crumble chicken feed than you can use up in one month or the nutrients may break down and the fats can go rancid. This may lead to deficiencies and illness in your flock.

Too Many Treats?

We all like to spoil our animals, but it can cause serious issues with their health. Too many scratch grains, treats, and fatty foods will create problems for your flock. Because the hens like these foods best, they will consume as much of them as they can, leaving their layer rations in the feed dish.

Fresh Water for Egg Production

Always keep fresh, clean water available for your flock. A lack of water will reduce production due to dehydration. Remember, the hen needs to maintain her own health first and egg production suffers if she doesn’t have enough water in her system.

Supplemental Calcium for Egg Production

Keep crushed oyster shell available free choice so that your hens may consume extra calcium if they are not getting enough from their feed. If they have oyster shell, plenty of layer feed, and they are laying thin shelled eggs, or very few eggs, try adding more vitamin D3 to their diet. This vitamin is necessary for proper absorption of calcium.

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.

Know Your Timeline

One of the best tips to pay attention to when raising chickens for eggs is that chickens don’t start laying as soon as they hatch out of their own eggs.

Mind the Feed

The good news about raising laying hens is that you don’t have to go absolutely bonkers trying to find some new, cutting-edge feed for your chickens. You just need to give them a basic, quality diet.

Add Some Treats

Although the easiest way to modify your chickens’ diets to get them to lay more eggs is to simply provide them more of their regular, high-protein and high-calcium feed, you can also supplement with treats.

Keep Things Clean

Think about it – how relaxed would you feel if your toilet was overflowing and your house was a mess? Probably not very.

Tidy Up Those Nest Boxes

How are your nesting boxes looking? Ideally, you should have at least one nesting box for every four chickens, but if your girls are struggling to lay the right amount of eggs, you may need to add a few more areas for them to do so.

Give a Girl Some Space!

If your chickens are feeling cooped up – see what I did there? – they are far more likely to lay fewer eggs.

Add Calcium

Laying an egg requires a shocking amount of calcium. Make sure your laying hens have access to a calcium supplement.

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.

What Causes Low Egg Production?

It takes the right conditions — and a lot of energy — for your chickens to lay eggs. Many factors can affect their rate of egg production, including:

How to Get Your Chickens to Lay More Eggs

If you are interested in increasing egg production in your hens, you can change a few different things in their environment.

Supplements

Medicated Feeds

Feeding and Storage

Replacement Pullets

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...

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Molting

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