Pghelp
Songster
I would second fermenting the feed. My girls love it. I use a grower feed because I have a mixed flock of layers and pullets. They waste a lot less feed doing fermenting which is way easier than it sounds. I would also add that I am very picky about what my hens eat. I’m eating their eggs after all. I will only buy non-gmo or organic feed which, granted, costs more than some of the recommended feeds here. My feed of choice is Scratch n Peck and the girls love it because it has lots of seeds and grains but is nutritionally balanced. As they say on every bag, “You are what your animals eat!”Most chickens won’t over feed with a hanging feeder. They will eat as much as they need. If your mom is really worried about that you could try fermenting feed, and dishing it out. It doesn’t decrease the amount of feed you need for them, but the bacteria in the fermented feed makes it more digestible.
You can definitely supplement with oyster shells for your chickens. For a free calcium source just feed crushed egg shells back to your chickens.