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What to feed chickens2007-11-24 17:17:34

ive heard Good King Henry makes chickens fat.

are there any green weeds that are known to help produce eggs or other food at that?

thanks!

Answers:

A chicken will eat almost anything including other chickens. they like grass clippings bugs and even worms, if you have a grainery around see if they have laying mash, also some oyster shell for them to use in their crop to breakdown the grain, cracked corn is also good. but if you want green weeds chop them up and the chickens will eat it, make sure its not poisonous.

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i heard that chicken must be fed with laying mass if you want it to lay eggs.

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First it depends on the age of the chickens.Second what is the purpose of the chickens is going to be.Chickens used as layers need to be fed a starter/grower feed(preferably none medicated) for the first 14 weeks.At which time you can begin gradually switching over to a layer ration.By 16 weeks they should be on straight layer rations.Layers only require a feed that has 16% protein and 8% fat.It is better to feed a crumble feed rather then a pellet.They utilize and gain more from crumbles.Also it is good to add chopped corn with the layer feed.This allows a type of solid food which helps then with digestion and prevents them from processing the food before actually absorbing the nutrients.Never and I mean never add oyster shell nor any other type of shell builder to their feed.It can cause a host of issues from making them stop laying all the way to death from ingesting to much calcium.The only time a chicken even needs a type of shell builder is only if the eggs they are producing are thin shelled.Then the shell builder should be placed in a separate small bowl and then only filled once a month If needed.For meat birds you start them on the same starter/grower as layers though at 3 weeks you switch them to a higher protein percentage builder ration depending upon breed.till 6 weeks.Then either process or feed them a finisher for 2 more weeks.Efficient weight gain with meat birds depends mostly on the breed.Where as some develop much faster then others.As for feeding any type of greens it is best to free range your birds for this.Egg production is based more by breed and light then anything else.Greens like grass can make a nice treat for cooped birds though they do not need it if they are fed proper rations.