A few questions for the experts, and a lovely pic too!!

Hi All!

First off...I have learned so much about chickens and ducks from this site. I am really grateful for this resource.

I started with my first chicken about four months ago. Now I have six! Two jerseys, two americaunas, one oprhington, and one mystery bird. I am feeding them layer pellets mixed with whole corn, kitchen scraps, and they free-range several acres.

A few quick questions...

1. I noticed that if I throw out ONE coffee can's worth of food per day they eat it and then forage the property all day. If I feed them TWO coffee can's worth of food they all lay around in the barn doing nothing but taking dust baths. Since it's gotten chilly outside I've added about a half can each day (plus kitchen scraps daily). Is monitoring their foraging activity levels a safe way of judging how much food they need?

2. Should I be giving them any medication to avoid health problems? I have read about "worming" them but don't know if it is necessary. Also, I have a friend who buys electrolytes to add to her flock's water, but she has no interest in keeping costs low like I do. Are the benefits of electrolytes worth the cost?

3. I am trying the deep litter method. They really don't spend a lot of time in their coop. I'm lucky...if they are pecking around the barn or foraging it seems like they mostly return to their coop to lay eggs at various times of the day. For those of you who do deep litter, do you add anything to the litter to keep it free of mites/moisture?

Thanks for the advise and opinions! And just for the heck of it (and mostly because I love to show off my pretty eggs) here is a pic of the glorious Hen Fruit that I've been collecting.

Cheers!