Getting Started With Chicken Feeding - The Right Way

Are you at a loss on how you should feed your chickens?

Do you find yourself looking through the Internet for guides on chicken feeding, and feeling more and more confused?

Do you find it hard to believe that feeding your chickens can actually be the easiest part of taking care of them?

That probably means that you're a new chicken raiser. Most newcomers in the field find it difficult to believe that you can simplify the task of feeding chickens into a routine that actually works well enough to keep both the chickens and their owner happy.

While it does involve a little bit of scientific knowledge, figuring out a way of feeding your birds isn't rocket science. Most breeders come up with a feeding routine for their birds within months, usually by trying out a variety of chicken feeding schemes and choosing which works out best for them. I think what daunts most new chicken breeders the most about it, though, is the fact that they can't tell what product to get for their birds.

There are actually three basic ways of feeding your chickens. These methods involve feeding them with store-bought feed, creating your own feed at home, and using a combination of the two methods. Each one is effective so long as you take care to do it with the health of your chickens in mind.

The first method involves buying supplies of chicken feed from your local farm grocery. Depending on the kind of chickens you have, you might want to check on the formulation of the feeds that are available.

The most important thing to remember is that the younger the chickens are, the more protein they need. Older hens, in the meantime, need more calcium because of the calcium drain they experience when laying eggs.

If you decide to go natural and make homemade chicken feeds, you'll still have to take note of the nutritional formulation of the feed you're making.

Chicken feeding via normal human food will ensure that you get to save a little bit of money while you get to feed them stuff that you are 100% confident in. The only drawback with this method is that it takes too long to prepare a single meal, and if you don't have time, this can be a problem.

A combination of feeding methods will help ensure that your chickens' feeding habits are well-rounded. This way, you know that your birds are getting all the nutrition they should be getting (using homemade food as a supplement for their regular chicken food).

Chad B. is an advocate for backyard chicken care and has been involved in raising chickens since he was little boy back in 1986. Find out more about chicken feeding and how you can get a free 10-lesson chicken raising mini-course by visiting Chad's site by clicking here

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Making your own Chicken Food

So, you have bought your chickens and put them in the coop and wondering what to do next?

First thing you must do and not neglect is: water. Give them fresh water and make sure they have it on tap all the time. there are many fine water feeding system on the market, just pick a system that suits you and your pocket.

Next thing is your have decided to feed them yourself and not buy in food as such.
Well that is fine; people have been doing that for centuries. If you do it right and have the right breed, then your chickens will be healthy and give you a few eggs.

Making your own chicken food is very much a "suck it and see" sort of thing. The chickens will eat anything and if they don't like it, they will leave it...its as simple as that. Before we start, they are two things that you must not do.

Never feed the chickens meat of any kind and never ever feed them salt. Chickens like us, very much appreciate a varied diet and in the wild the birds will go round eating grains, seeds, bugs insects and small manuals. So with you home feeding system it is a good idea to let them roam round and pick up what they can. Doing this will also keep the "bugs" down in you garden as well as feeding your flock.

As well as water, the other thing that chickens need is grit. A home made method (a bit of an old wive's thing) for this is to take the egg shells that you get and put them in the oven until they are crunchy and then break them up as small as you can...try and get them like a course grit and then make this available to the flock. Do not give the chickens oyster shells because they are not good for them you would have to buy these anyway and we are not doing that, are we?

Summer or Winter it is a good idea to hang a cabbage up so that the chickens have to peck at it. This is good because it will keep them busy and also give them "greens"

Summer Feeding:

I am assuming that your chickens are running around outside and getting "their natural food" as well; so you can feed them anything that you have left from your table.

There are some foods that you must not feed them which are: raw green potato peels/dried or uncooked beans/avocado skins and pit/raw eggs/sugar/sweets/cirrus or chocolate. All these foods contain a toxin of one form or another (without being too scientific)
Chocolate is poison to most pets; thank God all the more for us! And as already been said; salt or anything really salty because salt can poison small animals.

Winter Feeding:

Once again, this is very simple: The same as in the summer only boil everything up and throw it in the trough when it has cooled down a bit.

Now if you are not buying food, there are ways of getting extra food in without handing out cash.
Barter....if you keep one or two more chickens then you need you will have a few extra eggs.
Go down to your local shop and see what they are throwing out because it is out of date..old cakes, bread, veg, grains of any type or anything else that they have and over them sum fresh eggs for their breakfast.
Your can also do the same with your neighbors; get them collecting scrapes and offer eggs in return.

There is one thing that you must remember with this type of feeding: have a cleaning routine for the feeding trough and do not leave old food laying about to get stale and attract vermin.

Richard has been keeping chickens for over 40 years: http://build-a-backyard-chicken-coop.blogspot.com/.

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