What to feed chickens to lay more eggs.

[brojrm]

I have 12 laying hens I feed a good layer feed mixed with cracked corn, oats, wheat, milo and black oil sunflower seed basicly layer pellets and wild bird seed. 12 bird 10 to 11 egg every day.

 

[avian]

I actually did a science fair project all about how a chicken's diet can affect its eggs! To get more eggs try a varied diet , and include alot of meat in that. Meat helps with the protein , which is a key factor in egg making. During the winter chickens lay less eggs mainly because of lack of daylight , so what I do is put a light in there that goes on around 6:00pm and off in the morning around 7:00am which helps alot with egg laying.

 

[Talihofarms]

What kind of problems are you having? If you are looking for high production you need to feed them a balanced layer ration and not so much on the side as scratch and other treats just upset that balance. 16% layer feed is sufficient for adult hens during the winter. During the heat of the summer when consumption is down 17 or 18 % would be more appropriate.

Lighting needs to be consistent. If they are naturally lit then you can expect production to drop coming into the fall and winter and increase in the late winter and spring. If you want max production then the lighting needs to be extended out to the length of the longest day of the year in your area and kept there, if they see a reduction in day length then they will fall in production.

Like he said X2

 

[phicri72]

Day length is what it is all about. You can supplement light in the winter, but I choose to give the girls the winter off. We still get eggs, just not as many. Now that the days are getting longer, we're getting more eggs already. Not quite summer production, but pretty close. Still more than we can eat, so there's usually a couple dozen a week to sell at work. We feed layena crumbles exclusively in the feeders, and throw some scratch out every day. We also give them all of our table scraps, and in the summer they get plenty of produce and grass from the yard and gardens.

 

[Scottyhorse]

We feed our chickens all of our scraps that are okay for them to eat. We have 29 chickens including five roos and one cockeral, and today we collected 14 eggs. During the freezing cold and snow. LOL

 

[babalubird]

What is "chops"? I'm interested in duplicating your feed. Thx.

 

[Mello-Bee]

Light and protein are big items, My light is on a timer on at 4 am off at 4 pm, But stress is an other item. Are the hens secure and have enough room, 1 rooster encourages laying 2 hurts it, and I am not sure 1 rooster for 5 hens my be stressful.

 

[15shenyl]

I find that mine don't depend on what food or what the wether is like. Mine lay if I sit outside with them, pet them, and give them a treat from the house. Other than that they all 7 pf them give me an egg each day unless I do something different and scrue up there daily routine.

 

[Summer Rose]

Hi, I have eight Hens and am getting seven eggs a day, I think one might be too young to lay just yet. I read that we need to give them protein as others have said here. I buy Bananas, and give them leftover meats cause they are meat eaters though many don't know that. On cold mornings I serve them some warm oatmeal for breakfast. I also put a timer for the lights in there, they come on at 4am and shut off at 9pm. I do have one Broody Hen and I just keep tossing her out of the nesting box when I go down there to feed and freshen water twice a day. I also place a light over the water on very cold nights to keep it from freezing. They sure act like Happy Hens! Oh another thing I give them is dried Mealworms but they are pretty expensive, I buy them off of eBay by the pound. Not rich but love to treat them, that is also how I get them back in the coop while I am raking or cleaning or watering them, they waddle up in a rush to get those. Hope that helps!
And, there is a place on here that list all the treats that are allowable and those that are not. I don't know how to share it on this post but maybe someone else can do that for you, or type in Treat list...Welcome to the Chicken Lovers LOL. Pam

 

[EpicBlueAcres]

Amen to you 2.

I would like to mix in a game bird feed to my layer rations but I feed nutrena nature wise brand and they don't have a game bird , should I use meat bird feed or all flock or mix in a different brand that has game bird? My girls do so well on this food