These feeds can come in pellet, mash or crumbed forms and are made up of a mix of grains corn, oats, soybeans , grit ground oyster shell or limestone and vitamins calcium. Feed can be provided in a feed dispenser or container, and other seeds and grains such as wheat and corn could also be scattered in the environment to supplement their diet and encourage natural foraging behaviour. In addition to a good quality poultry feed, a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables can also be given daily.
Examples of raw fruits and vegetables that can be fed include: vegetable peels, bananas, apple, berries, carrot, bok choy, silver beet, spinach, cabbage or broccoli. As a treat your hens can also have some cooked food such as rice, pasta, beans, or bread in small amounts [ 1 ]. Hens should never be fed food scraps that contain anything high in fat or salt, and do not feed them food that is rancid or spoiled.
Specific types of food that hens should not be fed include raw potato, avocado, chocolate, onion, garlic, citrus fruits, uncooked rice or uncooked beans [ 2 ]. If you are unsure about whether a type of food is safe to feed your hens it is best to check first with an expert. Oyster Shell — Some use this in place of grit, but as it is composed mostly of lime, grit has some advantages over it. Both grit and shell should be available for laying hens at all times.
Charcoal is almost pure carbon, and is useful as an aid to digestion. Of course, when a careful egg record is kept, and when the fowls are weighed occasionally, these matters can be determined accurately. But this involves considerable labour, and in these days the labour costs. There are, however, four things to observe:. The healthy fowl has an appearance of its own which every keeper should know.
It is active, alert, moves about freely, the comb is red and the appetite good. The chickens that are the busiest, feed well and go to roost last with a full crop are the producers. There are very few exceptions to this rule.
The feeders - The successful poultry man does not throw down so many measures of feed and leave the hens. He pauses a moment or two and notices the eagerness with which the fowls partake of their food and later goes through the pens again to see whether all of it has been eaten up. Watch the dropping board, it is the secret of proper care and will reveal the physical condition of the fowl. Normally the droppings should be firm, greyish black mass, terminating on top with a light greyish substance which is the secretion of the gall-bladder.
If the droppings are soft and of a yellowish or brownish color, it indicates too much carbohydrates. Too much protein will produce droppings that are watery, with dark red splashes of mucus. A greenish, watery diarrhoea usually indicates unsanitary conditions in the surroundings, the feed, or the water.
The egg yield is very good indicator of the overall health and condition of the flock. Keep a daily tally of eggs. Fresh eggs in winter are a delicacy. The secret for getting winter eggs is proper stock, feed them the proper elements and make them "scratch" to keep busy and active. The proper stock will consist of April hatched pullets and yearling hens, in good health. There is a difference of opinion as to the variety but to me it is not so much variety as it is proper care.
In winter I prefer giving a moist mash feed for first meal as it is ground and being moist passes quickly into the gizzard. Do not feed too much. Let the hens be hungry enough to scratch for additional grains. The mash feed formulas differ with different localities and access able grains. The following are two good ones: About noon I feed the grains in the litter.
I like to get as great a variety as possible as I think variety causes the hens to do more hunting. The first time over they will not get all and will keep at it. I prefer cracked to whole corn. In extremely cold weather I like to throw them some whole corn or wheat just before roosting time, this keeps the chickens digestive system working longer at night.
Remember whole corn is a strong fat producer and too much will produce fat and not egg. Further, quick, light, active hens can partake of more corn without serious disturbance of egg production than the large sluggish fowls. Of course, fresh water, grit, oyster shell and a dust bath should be accessible at all times and be sure there is no vermin in the pen.
Chicken lice is a great enemy to egg production. The water should not be hot nor should it be allowed to freeze. The dust bath is best when made from road-dust and wood ashes, with a little DE or lime. Green food must be supplied in winter if the best results are to be obtained. I use sprouted grains from early fall. They are prepared by placing some wheat, barley or oats in a box having sides about 6 inches high and by moistening the oats and keeping them warm and they will sprout.
In about 7 days they will be fully twice the size and much more relished by the chickens than whole oats and much more beneficial. By having seven boxes a continuous daily supply can be kept up. The grains should be first soaked over night in luke warm water then spread in the boxes about an inch deep and moistened daily. They should be stirred daily until they start to sprout after which moisten only.
In seven days the sprouts should be about six inches long making a matted mass which can be broken up and scattered in the pen or mixed in with feed. Laying Bantams will need nesting boxes for laying eggs and roosting perches should also be available for night time use.
Chick starter crumble is a complete diet for the first few weeks of a chickens life, after which you can start to introduce some fresh greens into their diet. Chopped spinach and similar greens are quite suitable and by 6 weeks of age they will enjoy boiled vegetable scraps. At this age they can be converted onto layer pellets or a scratch mix. For chickens to lay effectively they need to be well fed. They should have access to layer pellets throughout the day, preferably in a hanging feeder to keep it clean and out of reach of rats and mice, as well as daily vegetable scraps and grit.
If layer mash is being used soaking it the night before feeding makes it easier to digest so more nutrients can be readily absorbed. Fresh water needs to be available at all times and should be provided in a hanging water dispenser off the ground to keep it clean. Bantam Chickens and their coop should be sprayed with chicken safe insecticide every six weeks to kill and prevent mite and lice infestations. Worming with a broad-spectrum wormer needs to be carried out every three months.
Chickens are an animal that love to roam around and forage. When possible they should be let out to roam the garden throughout the day, however it is very important to remember to lock them back in their coop each night before dark.
The skill with chicken keeping is to make them work for you, not against you, and as they can be quite destructive you should take careful consideration before letting them loose amongst your favourite plants. If your backyard has low fencing it may be an option to trim their wings.
For their foraging time outside the coop it is a good idea sprinkle a scratch mix or other grain feed around the lawn so your chickens can scratch and forage throughout the day.
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