Starting at 18 weeks of age and throughout their laying cycle, feed free-choice laying chickens premium poultry feed as their only meal. This provides optimal nutrition to promote healthful birds that produce nutritious eggs.
Layena is a high-calcium, 16%-protein feed designed to meet the demands of top producing laying hens, including our Oyster Strong System to strengthen eggshells.
Contents
1. Shell Grit
Grit is an essential ingredient to support the digestive systems of poultry flocks. Our coarse shell grit comes complete with recognisable pieces of shell that help your flock grind seeds, grains, bugs and pebbles into their gizzards (since hens don’t have teeth).
Egg shell calcium supplementation is both an aid to digestion and source of strength for strong egg shells. For optimal results, feed it separately from feed in an accessible container that your chickens can access at will – either next to or mixed in with their food source.
Grit can help prevent calcium deficiency among laying hens, which is essential to their egg production. You should aim to offer your flock at least twice weekly free-choice access to grit for this purpose, since their consumption will occur throughout the day. You can further help their bodies absorb calcium by adding apple cider vinegar into their drinking water supply.
2. Cracked Corn
Corn is an excellent source of carbohydrates for your flock and contains trace amounts of phosphorus – an essential mineral which regulates growth and promotes strong bones. Each kernel of corn contains about 15% water, 4% oil and 62% starch.
Cracked corn should not be the focus of your flock’s diet, due to its low levels of protein. Constant consumption could negatively impact both their overall health and egg production.
Heritage Cracked Corn is an extremely high-quality feed ingredient grown in the United States that has been cracked to make digestion simpler for poultry, livestock and swine. You can feed mature birds directly from a feeder or scatter it across their feeding ground for them to scratch through and consume. When feeding coarse grains such as this we suggest offering Manna Pro Grit to break down and digest larger grain particles more effectively.
3. Medicated Feeds
Due to an increasing global demand for poultry meat, the global market for medicated feed ingredients is anticipated to experience significant growth. Key market participants include manufacturers, suppliers and distributors. Medicated feed can help treat animal diseases efficiently while improving overall productivity of livestock farms. It helps develop healthier animals which lead to greater overall productivity.
Medicated feeds are effective tools for treating large groups of livestock. Unfortunately, the oral administration of medicated feeds can introduce drug residues into environmental media through excretion or other channels; this may increase human or non-target organism exposure (Arikan et al. 2008; Chee-Sanford et al. 2009; Lumaret and Errouissi 2002).
Medicated feed contains a combination of antibiotics and other nutrients designed to be taken orally by sick animals. Such medication will typically be labeled with its name, concentration, dosage instructions and withdrawal periods when required by law.
4. Fermented Feeds
Fermented feed is one of the easiest, natural ways to add probiotics and other nutrient rich microbes into your flock’s diet, lowering feed costs while improving egg quality and making keeping them healthy easier than ever.
After your mixture has fermented, it should become bubbly with a sweet-scented aroma. If it begins to smell of alcohol or decay however, discard immediately and begin fresh!
Day two: Stir the mix three times each day. You may notice it floating or seeming to absorb more liquid – this is normal! After each stir you should be seeing lots of bubbles. Additionally, your feed should smell somewhat sour which indicates fermentation has started strong!
Once the feed has fermented, strain it and use any extra water that has accumulated to jump-start another batch of fermented feed!
