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I know! It never bothered me before, but now I am spoiled by my own flock's eggs.

I can no longer eat the eggs at the deli by my office. I used to enjoy their breakfast scramble on occasion, a plate of eggs with potatoes and veggies, and now I'm not even interested. They use either powdered eggs or the premixed eggs that come in a big carton/jug.

I did find it to be an interesting read into the beginnings of factory farmed chicken however.

I just read the article too... right after that part there was a photo with a caption labeling the chickens as the elusive "barred rocks"... There was not a barred bird in the picture at all.

Ok, after reading many more responses I have more questions. Will chickens eat yarrow? I have an abundance of this that grows wild in the yard/field. Free ranging is not an option, but I can certainly throw it in their run. Voles. We have lots of voles. Usually the cat (which I...

I will have to read the labels on my feed bags at home, but someone recently mentioned that a lot of feed companies do not include animal products anymore because their feed has a longer shelf life without.

I have seen sunflowers growing in my area, so I should be able to grow these as well. The chickens would love them, and the ducks would love the peas. I like the way you think!

I have had to change my mindset about gardening (which is taking research). I live in a harsh environment, and a lot of things I want to grow (like tomatoes and cucumbers) just can't be grown here. Now I am looking into what I can grow and making my picks from that list. Also, my short life...

@lazy gardener This is much on the lines of "victory gardens" in the US. US citizens were encouraged to plant gardens to help feed the population during WW1 and WW2. This was on public and private land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden The government went so far as to publish...

Someone gave me an interesting link lately. It was to an article essentially saying that feeding back their own eggshells is a great calcium supplement, but not sufficient on its own, and due to the way the birds process calcium they need the larger chunks provided by oyster shells. Do you...

This is good info in figuring out what may be able to be grown.

Also thank you to those of you that have provided links to articles and names of books! Now my reading list is growing. Also does anyone grow crops (small scale garden, not acres of field) specifically to feed their chickens?

Why do you provide the kelp free choice? I understand the kelp as it's in many feed recipes I have seen, but why not mix it in?

So if all I had right now in the dead of winter, is what is already in my house, and it's feed them something or they starve, this is what they'd probably end up with... a picked over ham carcass that's been haunting my fridge cat food some bagged salad their own eggs some flax seed some greek...

I've read about supplementing their feed with cat food during molt, so this is definitely great in a pinch, but is this the exclusive feed being used? Is this adequate long term? Does feeding cat food end up being more or less expensive than chicken food?

I've also heard of people getting spent grains from the brewery. Does anyone do this? Is there enough nutritional value that it's worth it? From what I understand they have to be used pretty quick. The one brewery I looked at wanted someone to take all or nothing and it was such a huge...

Also @1cock2hens That website is great! A bit overwhelming with all the nutrition data on it, but I can see where it can be really useful.

Perfect! Thank you! Of course they can always get their own eggs back if needed! Problem solved.

@jeffnolan Since I am looking into mixing my own feed, do you have a recommendation for a good source of Methionine? What sorts of things is it found in naturally? What would be a beneficial addition to a chicken's diet that would provide this if not feeding a pellet ration or if pellet ration...

On my to do list is to make my own feed. When I bought my pullets last spring from an organic chicken farmer, he mixed all his own feed. He had a lot of chickens though and buying seeds/grains in bulk was practical for him. He also sold bags/buckets of this feed to locals and other customers...