What do you feed your chickens?

[leslielbk]

Currently feeding Durham pellets.

I have added water to them! Apple sauce!
Just the pellets and locked them up.

They just don’t like them.
So I want to buy a new layer feed.
Just not sure what to get at Tractor Supply.
Can you help a fellow chicken mamma out.
What do your chickens love to eat?
FYI I am getting 3-5 eggs a day from the 7 pullets.
I do feed them oyster shells on the side.( they eat that!)

I going to the store and looking for something they will eat.

Thanks for sharing your Hen’s diet

Pellets? Crumble? Or Mash?

I use Nature's Best Organic layer pellets. Expensive, at $25/40# at tractor supply. I eat organic mostly, and want my eggs the same.
I buy frozen organic peas, beans, broccoli at Aldi - cheap. Thaw it out a little, or leave it frozen in summer. They get a little, not more than a cup or so as a treat.
I keep some fermented feed going and some of them love it.
Black oil sunflower seeds from tractor supply $15/44#. A cup or so a day, more especially while moulting.
I raise black soldier fly larvae - that's the absolute best source of protein you can get. They eat your kitchen scraps too.
They do get scratch, but that's a treat. Too much and they won't eat their feed and just wait for that. A guy at a mill (where the hell did those go??!!?) I used to buy from in Wisconsin told me scratch is like pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

[Folly's place]

@leslielbk , I've got a question for you. Are your chickens fed organic exclusively, or only as part of their diet? How about the sunflower seeds, scratch, and fly larva?
Mary

 

[bantamgirl91]

I usually feed Purina Omega Layena. But I can get Frontview Feed if I make a long drive and it's cheaper than Purina and the ingredients seem better? It's 16% Show Bird Conditioner. A 50 lb bag is 14$ from my supplier. I am considering buying flaxseed powder in bulk and adding it next time.

Does anyone else feed this?

 

[micstrachan]

King All Flock pellets is what they’re eating right now, because U’m an IDIOT and did not notice it is not organic and the first ingredient is soy. Moving back to Modesto Milling brand toward the end of this 50# bag.

I’ve been fermenting feed for a couple weeks now and they are CRAZY for it!

 

[NOLA farm]

Is your avatar an emu?

Ostrich hanging out at a wildlife preserve in France

 

[Bigbluefrog]

I have 5 chickens and 3 Pekin ducks. I feed them fermented Scratch and Peck brand Layer feed. I pour water into a half gallon mason jar until just under the 4 cup line then pour 4.5 cups layer feed, this way it all gets wet without having to stir. I then top the jar with a Trellis & Co. Stainless steel with silicone gasket fermenting lid. I try to ferment at least 4 days. I don’t fill a new jar each day though, instead I’ll end up filling a bunch of jars about once or twice a week, keeping the jars in order so the oldest ferment gets fed each day when I pull the jar from our front entryway bench that holds 2- 40 # bags (a month supply for us) of feed plus a plastic bin that holds the 1/2 gallon jars, incase I overfill and end up with a leaker. They also have the same feed dry in a grandpa's treadle feeder. They get a treat of soldier fly grubs almost every day and various kitchen scraps. In the summer I have garden beds that I rotate just for them with screen cages to let their veggies grow while they destroy the open bed. The ducks absolute favorite is overripe cucumber. They go crazy for them, the chicken like them too but when cucumber is on the menu there’s no way the ducks will share. I just started some trays of oat grass in the windows for them since we are buried in snow here, I’m sure they’ll love it but I guess I could be wrong.

So to ferment you just put it in water and wait?
So if I put the processed crumble in water that is fermenting.
I am very interested- I will search online too.
Chickens are eating the new crumble. Only if I mix it with water and some ACV.

I noticed my eggs have a strong shell but the yolks are starting to get more yellow.
Like store bought.
They were a richer yellow or orange before.

does that mean they need more ? Carrots?

And people feed their chickens fly grubs - yuck but I would try it if it is Easy and manageable.
My hens do not eat dried mealworms
I was told they would love them and bought a large bag.
Maybe our chickens are just odd

 

[Matilda Belle]

I feed my entire flock Nutrena Chick Starter, grit and oyster shell in separate containers on the side, and occasionally cracked corn and mealworms.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So to ferment you just put it in water and wait?
So if I put the processed crumble in water that is fermenting.
I am very interested- I will search online too.
Chickens are eating the new crumble. Only if I mix it with water and some ACV.

I noticed my eggs have a strong shell but the yolks are starting to get more yellow.
Like store bought.
They were a richer yellow or orange before.

does that mean they need more ? Carrots?

And people feed their chickens fly grubs - yuck but I would try it if it is Easy and manageable.
My hens do not eat dried mealworms
I was told they would love them and bought a large bag.
Maybe our chickens are just odd

It is very common for yolks to lighten in the dead of winter. They aren't getting the carotenoids they get during growing season. There really isn't any nutritional advantage in dark orange yolks over pale yellow yolks.
You are in Wisconsin so I'm sure your chickens don't have access to green growth this time of year.

 

[Bigbluefrog]

It is very common for yolks to lighten in the dead of winter. They aren't getting the carotenoids they get during growing season. There really isn't any nutritional advantage in dark orange yolks over pale yellow yolks.
You are in Wisconsin so I'm sure your chickens don't have access to green growth this time of year.

Thanks! That is a relief!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks! That is a relief!

Most people give feed with yellow corn as the main ingredient. That is what makes yolks, even store eggs, yellow.
In some parts of the world, feed is made from white corn. Those chickens lay eggs with yolks that are almost white. That doesn't make the eggs less nutritious or the chickens less healthy.