Your choice of feed for chickens has an enormous effect on their health and egg production. They require high-quality, complete feed that provides all the essential vitamins and nutrients.
Good quality layer feed should contain an ideal combination of proteins, calcium, vitamins, and minerals for healthy laying hens. In addition, crushed oyster shells and grit should aid digestion.
1. Layena +
Optimize nutrition for healthy birds and delicious eggs. A 16% protein, high-calcium diet formulated with prebiotics and probiotics designed specifically for top-producing laying chickens aged 18 weeks or over that produce lots of eggs, featuring Oyster Strong System ingredients such as oyster shell calcium, Vitamin D3 and manganese for stronger eggshells while marigold extract promotes vibrant yellow yolks.
Purina has conducted over one century of poultry research. Their staff nutritionists and poultry specialist veterinarians use this research to develop diets designed to achieve maximum health, performance, and wellbeing for birds.
Layer feed is specifically formulated for chickens laying table eggs that will be eaten by humans, providing optimal conditions and consistent egg production. Available as pellets or crumbles, this diet includes all 38 essential nutrients needed by laying hens such as high levels of Vitamin A for strong reproduction and optimized levels of Vitamin E to promote immune support as well as natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.
3. Chicken Instinct
This high-quality poultry food is completely free from GMOs and other potentially harmful ingredients, while providing all of the vitamins and minerals your chickens require for healthful living. In addition, prebiotics and omega-3 fatty acids support digestive health while cage-free chicken is used in its production as well as ingredients grown and harvested without antibiotics.
Chickens are naturally broody birds who devote most of their energy to incubating and raising chicks instead of laying eggs. This benefits both farmers who need more eggs, and hens as it gives them purpose in life. Unfortunately, egg factories prevent hens from fulfilling this instinctive behavior, often leading to distressed or neurotic behaviour from the birds themselves.
Homesteaders looking for dual-purpose breeds will find that there are several suitable choices that produce eggs and meat at once – Delaware Australorps are among the more popular choices; both produce large numbers of eggs as well as family-sized table birds at maturity. Other popular choices include Plymouth Rock, which can produce up to 280 eggs annually before maturing into a 7-10 pound table bird.
4. Nutro Grower
This organic feed provides a balanced blend of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals designed to promote strong eggs and vibrant plumage in your laying hens. Free from harmful chemicals and boasting ethical sourcing processes.
This chicken feed has been specifically developed to meet the nutritional requirements of laying hens, providing an ideal balance of protein and calcium for maximum egg production. Ideal for chicks from weeks 1-18, as well as serving as starter feed for younger birds.
When shopping for quality chicken feed, always read and understand its label carefully and examine each ingredient’s nutritional value. Offering snacks, treats and scraps to your flock dilutes their nutrition and could lead to issues like aggression, feather picking, obesity and reduced egg production – as such limiting these items to just a few teaspoons daily may be best practice. In an ideal world, your flock should receive only high-quality layer feed in pellet form (pellets), crumble form (crumbles) or mash form so as to receive all their needed nutrients.
