⠀ Feeding chickens

[Ben 123]

Hi
I am about to get new chickens. I have had chickens for years and only ever fed them layers pellets and a bit of fruit and veg every week.I am wondering if a small handful of whole corn per bird in the evening will benefit the new chickens egg production while having layers pellets available all the time.

 

[pdirt]

It's easy to overdo it on treats, like corn. Corn is a good ingredient in a balanced feed, but if you start feeding that much corn per bird, you may dilute their daily protein ration. Layer feed is designed to be fed as the ONLY feed. Corn is low protein.

What I do is if we feed them low protein treats like corn, I make sure they get some extra protein, such as mealworms. When I do feed them corn, its minimal, perhaps a handful or two for the whole flock of 23 birds, not a handful per bird. They also have corn in their feed.

You could also feed a higher protein grower or starter feed (with crushed oyster shells on the side for laying birds) if you want to feed that many treats per day. Do this instead of layer feed, which is typically only 16% protein.

Btw, I'm guessing the average persons hand will hold about 1/3-1/2 cup of corn.

 

[pdirt]

Also, since your interested in improving your chickens' nutrition, you might look into fermented feed:
http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Kelp or nutritional yeasts are also great feed amendments, albeit rather pricey ones. But you don't need much. Kelp has lots of trace minerals and the yeast is full of vitamins, notably B vitamins.