What To Feed Chickens Naturally

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What To Feed Chickens Naturally

You may be starting to keep chickens and wondering what to feed chickens naturally. Well, you will be happy to know that chickens are not picky eaters at all. In fact, they will eat almost anything. Chickens are omnivores, so you can feed them everything from meat to vegetables, and they will eat it with joy. Feed them dog food and they will have feast. Provide them with pig food and they will devour it without hesitation. In nature, they will wipe out every insect, worm, or anything they can easily prey on. In addition, if you let your chickens roam free in a pasture, they will naturally eat grasses and clovers. If you have the resources and space, your chickens will produce excellent quality eggs.

As you can see, it is not hard to feed chickens. However, you must make sure your chickens get sufficient nutrition and stay safe. Read on to find out more.

Feeding Chickens To Produce Eggs

If you own egg-laying chickens, you should provide a diet that supports egg production. This means a diet that is rich in calcium and this is especially important during egg-laying season. You can include calcium in your hens’ diet in very simple ways, including by adding crushed clam shells to their feed. However, never give them whole clam shells. By doing so, you risk that the hens will recognize the shells as their own eggs. Therefore, make sure the clam shells are fully crushed before giving them to you hens. You can find crushed clam shells in your local feed store.

Healthiest Diet For Chickens

No matter the weather in your area or the time of year, the best foods for your chickens are commercial feeds, pellets, corn and grains. Providing commercial feeds will help ensure your chickens receive proper nutrition. You can also provide meat, fruits and vegetables. However, you should keep in mind that there are foods that you should never feed chickens. These foods can be harmful or even fatal. Below is a list of foods that you should not feed chickens. This list is not all inclusive.

Apples: For people, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. For chickens, apples may cause digestive problems. A little bit every few weeks as a treat is OK, but no more than that.
Potato Peel: Generally, chickens never feed on root crops. Never feed chickens raw potatoes, as these can be poisonous.
Orange Peel: The texture of orange peel tends to be too much for chickens. In fact, citrus fruits in general are foods that you should avoid.
Tomato: Like apples, a bit of tomato every once in a while is OK. But too much will affect chicken droppings and will cause digestive problems.
Bananas: Chickens are just not that crazy about them.

In addition to these foods, onions, rhubarb and avocados are on the list of foods to avoid. Remember, too, that what your chickens eat may affect the taste of their eggs.

How To Feed Chickens

Once you know how to feed chickens naturally, you can provide them with a container. You can also scatter the food on the ground because chickens are natural scavengers. However, if you want to keep pests and predators away and not waste money feeding squirrels, wild birds or rodents, we recommend using a chicken feeding system.

This is a BPA-free chicken feeder that holds up to 20 pounds of feed. This will save you lots of time, as you will not have to keep filling it up. Even if you have 8 hens, you will only need to refill this feeder once a week! You can place this anywhere in your yard or in your chicken run because there is no need to keep it indoors. This product has over 400 reviews on Amazon and a rating of 4.4 stars at the time of writing. This chicken feeder is well worth the investment as it will save you lots of time and money.