Poultry Keepers Almanac, Looking after your Hens

Back to the Ark

Housing your Chickens

Hatching with a Broody

How to: Feed Your Chickens

How much?

Hens will regulate their intake of layers pellets to their own needs (this is not the case with mixed corn though). It is ok to have a feeder hanging in the run/shed and fill it up when it suits you. If you think some other animal might be able to get at it, it might be worth just putting enough in the feeder to fill the hens up and not the local vermin (rats, pigeons, etc). An adult hen will eat about 125gm of pellets/layers mash a day.

Use this handy table to work out how much it is going to cost you a year - and how much it costs to produce your eggs (remember this is ignoring every other cost). If you allow your hens to free range and there is plenty of grass/weeds for them to peck at, you can lower the amount of their daily feed. Play with the lists to give you an idea of the feeding costs.

Number of birds	Gram per day (125)	Weekly Weight	Feed Sack Price	Sack Weight	Weekly Cost	Yearly Cost	Eggs/Hen Year	Egg Each	Egg 1/2 Doz.
		Kg	Ł		Ł			Ł	Ł

Feeder & Drinkers

Sadly you will find that chickens have a pretty laid back attitude when it comes to hygiene, they are not too bothered about sharing their food either - so they will elbow each other out of the way if they are hungry. Your drinkers and feeders will need to be quite robust and definately off the ground if the contents are to remain clean for any length of time.

Hanging Feeder

Keeps the feed relatively clean - the hens can't poop in it. But they still manage to throw some on the floor! (these are under my shed to keep the rain off)

Galvanised Floor Feeder

Robust and covered to keep the rain and the hens off the top - expensive but should last years. In the long run, cheaper than buying several plastic ones.

Hanging Drinker

Despite the muddy ground the water stays relatively clean. Still needs cleaning and refilling every day. This one is hanging from a convenient apple tree branch.

What should you be feeding your hens?

Lots of beginners are going to ask this question and this article covers all the basics. There are basically three types of food commonly available and they are fed to your hens a different stages in their growth: Chick Crumbs,Growers Pellets and Layers Mash/Pellets.

Chick Crumbs

Smaller than pellets (crumb sized, in fact), these are fed to chicks ad lib (always available) from day one to 6 - 8 weeks old. Protein: 19% Oil: 4% Fibre: 4% Ash: 6.5%

Growers Pellets

Designed to help young chicks grow on to maturity, these are made available from 6-18 weeks of age. Protein: 15% Oil: 3% Fibre: 4% Ash: 6%

Layers Mash/Pellets

The majority of us will be feeding bought in layers Mash or Pellets to our adult hens. You can buy these buy the 20/25kg sack from animal feed suppliers - they have a use by date on them, after which date the quality will deteriorate. They are formulated to be complete foods - they should have enough protein, vitamins, minerals, calcium, etc so that in theory you don't have to give your hens anything else and they will lay good eggs without the need for grit, oyster shells, etc. These days the ingredients have to be clearly labelled - so its easy enough to find out what's in them. Protein: 16% Oil: 3.5% Fibre: 3.5% Ash: 12.5%

Grit & Egg Shells

A lot of books will tell you that you need to make available a separate source of grit and crushed oyster (or similar) shells. The grit is for the birds to keep in their crop to help them grind up any seeds they may eat. The oyster shells are there to provide the calcium needed for the hens to produce hard egg shells.

Hens will get their own grit as long as they have access to some soil - so if they can access soil in their runs then you don't need to supply any. Any decent layers mash or pellets includes sufficient calcium for hens to produce good egg shells - so again if you are feeding a good quality layers mash/pellet then you don't need to provide extra via shells. I have not given my hens any extra grit or shells for 2 years and their eggs shells are fine (they do have access to soil at all times though).

Mixed Corn?

There is no doubt that hens love mixed corn. Its actually a mixture of kibbled maize and whole wheat. A lot of keepers throw a handful to their hens at the end of the day. Hens will quickly gobble it up and love you for it! Because the grains are whole, they are said to take longer to digest and so keep the hens warmer over night. Is it essential? - well, no its not. Its good to give the birds a treat though and as long as you don't overdo it, your hens won't get fat. Fat hens are not good layers! Also available in organic form.

You can use Mixed Corn to make friends with a shy hen. Sprinkle some on the floor in front of you (making sure the hen can see you doing it) and if you sit quietly, the hen should find it irresistible. After doing this a few times hold some in your hand with your arm extended. After a while the hen will come to you looking for the corn.

Organic or Not?

Organic feeds are available throughout the UK (although you may have to travel a few extra miles to find them) and if they are soil association certified they will be made up from cereals grown organically (that is using organic methods from organic GM free seeds). There are two benefits of using organic feed:

The feed and therefore your eggs/meat are going to be free of any traces of chemicals used in the production of non-organic crops .
The land used to grow the grain is not being polluted - so you are indirectly protecting the environment.
You can tell your customers that you are using organic feed and that might be a useful selling point

What's the downside? - well the cost. The cost of feed is increasing and a 20kg sack of organic feed will cost you around Ł10-12 (less if you can buy in bulk). Non-organic is available around Ł6-Ł7 so there is a big difference. Basically you will be very lucky to get a price for your eggs that will pay for the organic feed.