What is the best food for my laying chickens?

by Len’s Feed Shed June 26, 2020

The best food for your laying chickens is a complete diet with all the nutritional requirements for their breed type and age. Their food needs to be made from the best quality ingredients to ensure they have a long, healthy and happy life. High Protein Laying Mashes are at the top of the list, closely followed by Course Laying Mashes, then Fine Laying Mashes. Some brands of laying pellets are a complete diet, but pellets are generally lower quality products. Mixed grains are incomplete foods and OK as a supplement, but don’t provide enough nutrition for laying chickens.

Your chickens will enjoy most of the natural and unprocessed foods in your kitchen. Leafy vegetables, salads, fruit & meat are all acceptable in small quantities. Scraps are generally low in nutrition though and should be fed as a treat on top of their healthy diet, not as a replacement diet. Remember, chickens only eat 120g a day so if they are getting lots of scraps, they won’t get the nutrition they need for laying healthy eggs.

Chooks are not tolerant to lactose and fat so dairy products and fat from meat should be avoided. Raw potatoes and peelings cause damage to their nervous system while onions and chilli’s cause bad tasting eggs. Never feed your chooks egg shells, chocolate, avocado, rhubarb, coffee or alcohol. Avoid feeding food not made for chooks. Don’t feed them mouldy or off food. If you wouldn’t eat it, do not give it to your chickens.

Following these steps will ensure your Laying Chickens are happy, healthy, have the best food possible and will produce lots of eggs for you and your family.

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