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That reminds me... I'm curious what any of the OT think of the "FEED AS SOLE RATION" mentality. They give you bag of... stuff containing no animal protein and no green stuff, and tell you not to feed your chickens anything else.
Then they hand you a bag of scratch and tell you to feed it in addition to the first bag of stuff. Am I missing something here?
footnote: I am an OT in regard to human nutrition, and get a little cynical when people start wanting to calculate ratios and percentages too strictly. That might need to be another thread, though.
I believe a varied diet is important. My chickens get as much from the kitchen and garden, as well as alfafalfa as they do in feed. Doesn't seem to hurt laying much. I'm sure my meat chickens gain a little slower but I spend less feeding them so who cares if I butcher them a week or two later and they develop more flavor? I like processing one or two at a time when I need them and growing them slower allows me the ability to do that.
My opinion on this. I think the commercial feed is specially formulated to provide the nutrition they need to efficiently produce sellable eggs if that is all they eat and they are fed under commercial conditions and they are a laying flock. If they are meat chickens, they get fed meat rations. If they are a breeding flock, they are fed breeding rations, different rations for roosters and hens. By commercial conditions I'm talking about how they are fed, how lights are handled, and general management issues. For example, they control how much each hen eats in a flock of thousands by only feeding a set amount at a time. That way they all rush to the feeders and eat until it is gone instead of free feeding all day and some bullying others. If all ours eat is commercial feed available 24/7 they will probably get a little fat but should do OK. Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, health is also important to commercial operators. They may need to take additional steps because of the crowded conditions, but the chickens can stay healthy on commercial feed if that is all they get.
A whole lot of what we have learned is due to the research performed by the commercial operations striving for efficiency. A lot of that research they pay for is done by grad students at land grant colleges. If you have a half dozen flocks of laying hens, each with 5,000 hens, efficiency is real important. In our flocks efficiency is not nearly as important, especially if we can cut our feed costs by letting them forage for some of their own feed. You have to be able to take those studies and translate them into how we manage our chickens. And many many of us overthink it and get hung up about things we should not.
By the way, fat chickens are more susceptible to health problems, but most still do OK. By making them find a lot of their own food, they get lots of exercise. Maybe something to think about. Not everyone can let their chickens free range, so just do the best you can and don't worry about it too much. You are doing the best you can and they will be OK.. Giving them some low calorie, high vitamin and high mineral green stuff can cut down how much of that feed they eat. But don't overthink it.
If you cannot let them forage for their own food, then a variety can help. Use some commom sense. If your variety goes between cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli leaves, maybe it is not all that varied. But don't get too hung up about it. When I make saurkraut they get a lot of cabbage leaves. It doesn't hurt them. But I don't feed a massive amount of cabbage leaves for weeks on end. A few every day is not bad, but not massive amounts. Mine normally free range so it is usually not an issue, but when I have a predator problem I have not yet solved, like now, they are stuck in a run and they get supplements from the garden and kitchen scraps.
I know I said don't overhink it then make it complicated. I think a relatively balanced diet is important in the long term, but unless you are in a position where the utmost efficiency is important to you, don't overstress about it. They will do fine with a very wide range of feeds and supplements as long as you don't get ridiculous. When they forage for all their food, they roughly balance their nutritional needs, but if they see a juicy grub, they don't think, "I've already had my protein requirements for the day so I'll pass". They don't think that at all.
