What is the best winter feed.

[BDutch]

I feed my flock of 40 laying hens and 1 Rooster. Canned cat food (shredded) about 5 cans a day, during the winter months. From December to March. Along with their laying crumbles, and cracked corn. I also put a feeding block in the coop. I also feed scraps from our table. They have 2 heat lights and 1 heater in their coop. I get any where from 26 to 36 eggs a day from my flock, all through the winter. They also have 40 gallon water feeder that sets on heater to keep water from freezing. Pam in Denton, MD

Personally I don't believe the cat food and heat lamps are a good advice.

We don't have severe winters here. But I do give other feed in winter because there a only 2 chickens laying in winter. The older Dutch stopped laying end of october/early november because of the shorter days.

In most layer feeds there is too much calcium for not laying chickens. Now they get chicken feed with less calcium and more mixed grains. And extra mealworms, hemp seads and I provide some greens too. I like to keep it a bit natural and don't mind if they stop laying in winter.