Chickens need a balance of nutrients in their diet in order to remain healthy and produce eggs. Carbohydrates provide instantaneous energy while proteins and fats provide more calories.
Chicken feed comes in several forms – pellets, crumbles or mash – all offering equal nutrients but differing textures. Supplementing this diet with shell grit and greens as well as occasional insect treats should round off its nutritional profile.
Contents
Protein
Chickens rely on protein to build and repair cells, tendons, muscles and feathers as well as produce eggs and obtain energy from their feed. Wild hens consume insects and grubs for protein consumption while backyard layers require specially designed feed that supplies them with adequate amounts of this essential element.
Chicken feed typically includes carbohydrates – their primary energy source – as part of its composition. Carbohydrate sources may come from various plant or animal sources such as legumes, oilseed meals (such as soybean and canola seed meal) or even brewer’s yeast.
Higher protein grains like quinoa, spelt, barley, amaranth seeds, sunflower seeds, nyjer seeds and shelled peanuts are an excellent source of protein; sunflower seeds have 21%. Rye, sorghum and millet can also help balance high protein grain mixes while adding animal sources like meat or bone meal as an additional boost of nutrients and flavoring agent in chicken feed.
Fiber
Complete feed must provide your chickens with all the nutrients they require for health, while still being easy for them to digest. To assist them, serve a mixture of pellets and whole grains such as wheat, barley, oats, bran rye or triticale; sprouted or fermented grains provide even greater benefits because of their increased probiotics content and make digestion even simpler.
Fibre can be found in all feed raw materials and formulations, but until recently was considered “useless roughage.” Animal nutritionists responsible for poultry feeding should pay particular attention to the crude fibre content in each raw material they select because this has an immediate impact on feed intake and energy provision as well as potential laying performance implications.
Chickens require water, shell grit and greens or insect treats in addition to complete feed in order to remain at peak health and performance. Calcium and vitamin supplements may be added as necessary to ensure adequate amounts of these important nutrients are received by their bodies.
Minerals
Food composition of your coop feed is of critical importance in maintaining chicken health and egg production. A quality, nutrient-rich feed will give your flock the energy it needs to survive winter temperatures, heat of summer heatwaves, molting season and provide energy needed for bone strength development and egg shell formation.
An effective feed will feature wheat (hard red or kamut), along with other high quality grains like oats, barley or millet in hard varieties that provide 18 percent protein and magnesium content.
Corn is an abundant source of protein found in commercial feeds, yet its nutrition value is low and should be replaced by alternatives like black soldier fly grubs and brewer’s grain which offer greater nutritional benefits. Protein can also be obtained in much smaller amounts from animal by-products like fish meat and poultry products.
Vitamins
Chickens require essential vitamins and minerals for normal metabolism and essential bodily functions, and table scraps, kitchen garden plants, backyard bugs and insects may provide some of the necessary nutrition; however, these sources rarely contain all of the minerals and vitamins essential for keeping chickens healthy and egg laying strong.
Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are provided through meat meal and vegetable oil in feed, while water-soluble vitamin C and the B group vitamins can be obtained through greens, alfalfa and certain fish oils. Calcium can also help increase egg production; sources include gypsum, limestone or oyster shell meal.
Folic acid is essential for the formation of new cells and can be found in legumes, cauliflower, oranges, beets and whole wheat products. Biotin helps produce fatty acids and amino acids needed for our bodies’ function and is readily available from egg yolks, bananas and other fruits and vegetables, including lupin seeds, broccoli and carrots.
