Supplementing commercial chicken feed

[Zigmont]

Ok, so my head is spinning from all the articles and postings about chicken feed. I have six chickens. One is a roo with three hens about 9 months old who have been laying an egg per day for around 4 months. The other two pullets are 4 months and have not started laying yet. There is so much out there, I want to make sure they are getting what they need. The main food is Purina Layena. They have grass hay and alphalfa hay in their coop at all times, and get horse grain as a treat a few times each week. They used to free range all day, but a hawk killed one, so now that s limited.

Today I bought scratch and flax, but I am not sure how much of either to give. Is there a ratio I should follow? Their favorite treat is moist dog food! The kind like play doh. It's like chicken crack. All they have to hear is the crackling of the packaging in my pocket and they literally fly across the yard. I thought they like it because they like the protein. I want them to be healthy and happy. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[BarredBuff]

I never gave flax. But with my scratch, I just throw it out in the morning for a little snack....

 

[Chris09]

I wouldn't give much more than a hand full of the scratch or horse grain a day anymore than that and you will depleting a lot of the protein of the Purina Layena feed.
As for the Flax Seed I wouldn't offer any more than 8% than the diet because too much Flax Seed can cause health problems in chickens. Overfeeding flaxseed can cause problems for your hens because flax seed contains sticky compounds that stops poultry from digesting some of the nutrients in there diet. Flax seed also contains a compound called linoline that may increase the birds' vitamin requirements. Feeding too much flax seed can also cause production drops, small egg size, reduced body weight gain and thin egg shells.

Theis

 

[Zigmont]

So, is there any benefit to feeding any flax seed? I read it was great for chickens, and it's wonderful for the horses. Maybe just for mamals?