Feeding & Water

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  Commercial Feed: Commercial poultry pellets should make up the base of your chickens’ diet. These pellets are formulated to meet the nutritional needs of chickens and will ensure they’re getting everything they need without having to forage. This is especially important for chickens that can’t free roam in a large area since food may be limited in a condensed area. Commercial feeds are usually made with foods like sunflower seeds, oats, and wheat.
  
  

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  Grasses: Chickens will eat broad-leaved weeds, like dandelions, and they will eat  grasses like clover and Kentucky bluegrass.
  
  

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  Insects: Chickens love to eat bugs and are very effective at helping to control populations of ticks. They will also eat earthworms, beetles, and crickets.
  
  

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  Seeds and Grains: Chickens will eat pumpkin seeds, oats and oatmeal, corn, and cooked rice are all good options to feed your chickens. Just feed these in moderation as they tend to be very nutrient-dense.
  
  

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  Grit: To help digest their food, chickens need to eat grit like sand or coarse dirt. The grit will help the gizzard grind up the food, making it easier to digest and to pull nutrients from.
  

Treats for Chickens:

• Vegetables: Chickens love veggies and will gladly accept whole veggies as well as vegetable peels. Broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, bell peppers, and tons of other veggies are chicken-safe. Avoid feeding raw potatoes and potato peels, as well as other nightshades, as these can make your chickens sick. Veggies can be fed on a daily basis.
  
  

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  Fruits: Bananas, apple cores and peels, melons, and grapes are good options, as well as other non-citrus fruits. It’s best to remove seeds from apple cores prior to feeding since apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide.
  
  

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  Mealworms: Mealworms are available in freeze-dried and live forms, so you will be able to choose which to feed your chickens. They will happily eat either one, though!
  
  

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  Table Scraps: Chickens will eat just about anything you offer to them. Pancakes, pasta, leftover oatmeal, and unusable scraps from produce like cores and peels. Feed table scraps in moderation and make sure to cut everything up into bite-sized pieces before feeding it to your chickens.
  
  

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  Protein: Chickens are omnivorous, so feeding them meat can be beneficial to their diet. They don’t need a lot of meat but will often catch frogs and other small animals when possible as a snack. Chickens also can have some dairy, like cottage cheese, in small quantities. Meat and dairy proteins should be fed in moderation.
  

• All stage feed recipe :

• 16% layer feed. 50lbs.

• 28% wild game starter feed 50lbs

• Wild bird feed 40 lbs.

• 1.5 oz paprika

• 1.4 oz oregano

• 1.4 oz thyme

• 0.4 oz parsley

• 1.75 crushed red pepper or cayenne

• 50 lbs bag of oyster shells

• 50 lbs bag of grit

• 25 lbs of field corn or field peas

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Chicken Feeding Chart

Age in Weeks

Amount per Chicken per Day

1

.42–.53 ounces (12–15 grams)

2

.53–.74 ounces (15–21 grams)

3

.74–1.2 ounces (21–35 grams)

4–6

1.2–1.7 ounces (35–50 grams)

7–8

1.9–2.1 ounces (55–60 grams)

16–27

2.4–2.8 ounces (68–80 grams)

How Often to Feed Chickens

Ideally, you should split your chicken’s feed into two servings daily. If you’re home during the day, you can even make this 3-4 small feedings. Chickens enjoy small, frequent meals as opposed to large meals once a day. It’s best to feed your chickens their pellets in a feed trough of some sort for easy cleaning but treats and scraps can be tossed on the ground to provide an enriching hide-and-seek game for your chickens. Just make sure you’re not overfeeding or you may end up with leftover rotting food.

A major benefit of feeding small meals twice daily is that it decreases the risk of attracting pests from food left sitting in the feed trough. Pick up any unfinished food at night to avoid attracting mice, possums, and other pest animals.

The Importance of Water in a Chicken’s Diet

Basically, all living things require water in some form for survival, and chickens are no different. They should always have access to clean water to prevent dehydration. A single chicken can drink up to a liter of water daily, and sometimes will drink even more during hot weather. Take this into account when you’re filling up your chickens’ waterer, and make sure to account for environmental factors like evaporation.

You should be providing clean, fresh water to your chickens at least twice daily and your container should hold enough water for the number of chickens in the flock. Your chickens should never lose access to water, so make sure you are giving them plenty! Dehydration, decreased egg production, stunted growth, and general poor health can all result from not having adequate water.