I have two old english chickens one a bantam and the other regular size.Since the middle of October they have quit laying and seem to be in a slow molting process. I had been feeding them egg layer with a little scratch mixed in,but since they quit laying they just pick out the scratch and leave the egg layer. They free roam in the back yard so I think they get enough to eat. But what my question is ,is should they be getting some other nutritious feed , until they start to lay again? Or should I continue to put out egg maker? I live in the city and there is only about 3 feed stores within about 20 miles. Their choices of chicken feed seems to be egg layer(in some form) scratch and cracked corn. Thanks for any help you can give me.
With them roaming in the yard they should be filling some of the holes in their diet that way. You could stop giving them scratch completely until they eat the feed. Since they aren't laying now they don't need the extra calcium in the layer. Ask the feed store if they have a grower or unmedicated starter, they should have one of those. Starter has more protein than most layers. The extra protein will help them through the molt.
