Best feed for old non egg laying chickens?

[kbroom]

Hi. I've been a little disheartened lately. My best layer, Sweetie, yep the one who loved to jump into cars? A chicken hawk got her this last October. I was shocked. I had to bury her. She was so beautiful. My 4 Easter Egger babies were killed by a racoon this last Summer. It's almost January of 2026 now, and I only have five chickens left. They're not laying right now, but probably will in the Spring. They get all kinds of goodies, including special wheat berry scratch, veggies, fruit, and of course they forage. They are pretty big, kind of like...small turkeys. So I'm probably going to have to cut back on their food too. I have food containers in their inner coop in case they get hungry at night. I probably shouldn't do that, huh? They also have extra water in there. Then in the outer pen they have a large container for food and water. My husband says we should not have anymore chickens. At this point, I'm not sure what I want. We really can't travel with them. Someone has to stay if or when we do. I love the eggs, and don't think I'll be able to go back to store bought eggs. Any suggestions? Anyone?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have food containers in their inner coop in case they get hungry at night. I probably shouldn't do that, huh? At this point, I'm not sure what I want. We really can't travel with them. Someone has to stay if or when we do. I love the eggs, and don't think I'll be able to go back to store bought eggs. Any suggestions? Anyone?

No they don't need food at night. If you don't have a pest issue it doesn't hurt to leave it, but I remove food at night to minimize that.

What kind of traveling are you hoping to do? Do you have neighbors or friends locally who could watch them? Chickens do just fine for several days without daily care as long as the feeder and waterer can hold enough for the duration.

If the care is too much but you still want "farm fresh" eggs do you have neighbors with flocks that are looking to sell excess eggs?

 

[chickengr]

Hi. I've been a little disheartened lately. My best layer, Sweetie, yep the one who loved to jump into cars? A chicken hawk got her this last October. I was shocked. I had to bury her. She was so beautiful. My 4 Easter Egger babies were killed by a racoon this last Summer. It's almost January of 2026 now, and I only have five chickens left. They're not laying right now, but probably will in the Spring. They get all kinds of goodies, including special wheat berry scratch, veggies, fruit, and of course they forage. They are pretty big, kind of like...small turkeys. So I'm probably going to have to cut back on their food too. I have food containers in their inner coop in case they get hungry at night. I probably shouldn't do that, huh? They also have extra water in there. Then in the outer pen they have a large container for food and water. My husband says we should not have anymore chickens. At this point, I'm not sure what I want. We really can't travel with them. Someone has to stay if or when we do. I love the eggs, and don't think I'll be able to go back to store bought eggs. Any suggestions? Anyone?

sorry for your loss.

they don't eat at night but mice and rats do.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I try not to recommend specific brands generally, however, Nutrena's All Flock has a good AA profile, doesn't include excess Calcium, has adequate to good nutritional numbers generally, and is one of the lowest minimum fat (2.5%) of all the readily available national brands. Kalmbach is also good feed.

"Waste" can be controlled, somewhat, for crumble feeds by offering as a wet mash / oatmeal like consistency.

Oh, and cut out the scratch, which is typically high fat, high carb, low nutrition.

Fresh veg are fine. Unnecessary, but fine.

{Edit: also seconding @Mother of Chaos "15 minute rule", I use a 10 minute rule with my own feed-supported free range flock}

 

[Debbie292d]

We really can't travel with them. Someone has to stay if or when we do. I love the eggs, and don't think I'll be able to go back to store bought eggs. Any suggestions? Anyone?

Do you have someone to check on them when you travel? It sounds like that's your only choice. Offer free eggs to neighbors just to check on them morning and night.

You could get larger feeders and waterers that would last them several weeks, or make them. We've got several 5-gallon buckets with PVC ports we bought on Amazon and 5-gallon nipple buckets. These could go nearly a month if we had to. But the farmer across the road comes to open the coop doors in the morning and shut them at night. That's all she has to do.

Solar motion lights will help keep the varments at night away.

 

[Debbie292d]

Not that it matters from a nutritional standpoint, but I just wanted to say that we had a LOT more waste with crumbles than with pellets in our so-called "no-waste feeders"! These are 5-gallon buckets with plastic elbows that the chickens stick their heads into to eat. Just be aware, depending what kind of feeders you have.

It might be the type of chickens you have. It stands to reason a bantam isn't going to peck the crumbles as hard as a larger bird. We don't have much waste at all (silkies). There's a bit of "dust" below the PVC ports, but they're sometimes picking at that too.

There was one brand that made mini-pellets they would eat, but since I switched to Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles and found how much easier this was with just one feed for all chicks, chickens, and ducks, we're just sticking with this.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It might be the type of chickens you have. It stands to reason a bantam isn't going to peck the crumbles as hard as a larger bird. We don't have much waste at all (silkies). There's a bit of "dust" below the PVC ports, but they're sometimes picking at that too.

There was one brand that made mini-pellets they would eat, but since I switched to Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles and found how much easier this was with just one feed for all chicks, chickens, and ducks, we're just sticking with this.

Do you order it? I hsven't seen that brand at our Bomgaar's.

 

[Debbie292d]

Do you order it? I hsven't seen that brand at our Bomgaar's.

We can't get it around here, so we've got it on auto-ship from Chewy. We get 2 50# bags of that, and 1 40# bag of Henhouse Reserve (their scratch) every three weeks.

Do you want me to get the link to it for you?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We can't get it around here, so we've got it on auto-ship from Chewy. We get 2 50# bags of that, and 1 40# bag of Henhouse Reserve (their scratch) every three weeks.

Do you want me to get the link to it for you?

Ummm... how are the shipping costs?

 

[NatJ]

Ummm... how are the shipping costs?

From the FAQ page:
"Orders over $49 ship free! All other orders ship for a flat rate of $4.95"
https://www.chewy.com/app/content/faq