New to chickens

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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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As stated above, chicken feed is best for them at all times. If they are on starter now, pretty soon you will want to get them on layer feed as they near laying. Oyster shell too on the side.

Here is our treats chart for things that are good for them as well...https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

Enjoy your birds and welcome to our flock!
 
danleen said:
Can anyone tell me how old my Sussex hens will be when they start to lay
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Most hens, including Sussex usually start laying from 20-24 weeks (sometimes a little earlier than that, sometimes a little later). Good luck in getting lots of eggs when they start laying.
 
Welcome!

I'm pretty new to chickens too, so I'm still learning, but I feed my (2) girls about 2 cups of commercial feed (with a homemade herbal supplement) and give them whatever fruit and veggie scraps I can. I'm a bit of a purist though, so I'm hoping to be able to decrease commercial feed (and switch to organic non-gmo), let them scratch/forage more, and give them more fresh things. I mean, what do you think people fed them before commercial feeds?
 
g67fam said:
Welcome!

I'm pretty new to chickens too, so I'm still learning, but I feed my (2) girls about 2 cups of commercial feed (with a homemade herbal supplement) and give them whatever fruit and veggie scraps I can. I'm a bit of a purist though, so I'm hoping to be able to decrease commercial feed (and switch to organic non-gmo), let them scratch/forage more, and give them more fresh things. I mean, what do you think people fed them before commercial feeds?
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That's a good point, however keep in mind that before the commercial feeds, chickens were not being hatchery breed to crank out eggs at crazy rates. With the development of these egg laying machines, commercial feeds now became needed to meet these hens depleted nutritional needs from all that abnormal laying. And even with the former heritage breeds, a lot of hatcheries have bred the older heritage characteristics out of them in favor of increased lay rates. That's why a lot of them don't go broody anymore. Hatcheries don't want broody hens, because broody hens stop laying eggs.
 
Michael OShay said:
That's a good point, however keep in mind that before the commercial feeds, chickens were not being hatchery breed to crank out eggs at crazy rates. With the development of these egg laying machines, commercial feeds now became needed to meet these hens depleted nutritional needs from all that abnormal laying. And even with the former heritage breeds, a lot of hatcheries have bred the older heritage characteristics out of them in favor of increased lay rates. That's why a lot of them don't go broody anymore. Hatcheries don't want broody hens, because broody hens stop laying eggs.
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Oh really? well, see! I am still learning!
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Thank you for that! Although, it does make me sad that man has tampered with so many things that God made good in the first place. But, business must make money.
 
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