Chicken Feed for High Egg Production

There is quite an art or a science to putting together good chicken layer pellets, and it is not possible to expect your chickens to lay well over a long period if you do not feed them what they need, after deciding to do without industrial food.

Chickens require around 20% of their food to be very high protein, grains are not high enough. Although grains especially sprouted grains are great chicken food if you want high egg production you have to provide the 20% high protein.

If we are to do this without resorting to industrial products ..... we have some learning to do. I'm sure lots of you will have great ideas and there will be a different idea or system or technique for every flock of chickens that is laying very well...

Here are some of our ideas.. we'd like to hear some of yours

  • The obvious long term most sustainable system will be a forage system built on high humus alive soil, with lots of carbon being recycled which will attract loads of insects. Insects are the chickens natural way of getting high protein.
  • Ideas for chicken forage systems are in Design Your Own Orchard , but the key for attracting insects as well as providing high protein seeds etc will be having a layer of carbon composting on the soil surface .. creating lots of life.....
  • Comfrey is a high protein, low fibre feed source, ideal for poultry
  • Maggots grown on possums, road kill  or other waste meat are great protein loved by the chickens. We have found that it works best if you hang up a bucket far from the house with holes in the bottom for the maggots to fall out. The bucket has a layer of hay in the bottom, a possum, and another layer of hay , hang it up with another bucket underneath to catch all the maggots which can be fed to the chickens as required. If you let the maggots fall out in the chicken pen many of them will be wasted because they tend to come out all at once . If you feed them slowly over a few days you can avoid having to keep the smelly container in the chook house as well.....
  • minced meat is what some chicken keepers are feeding their chickens.. 20% of their diet. Those of us who kill our own meat will have some that could be used for chicken feed possibly...
  • If you live by the sea and fish is an almost daily part of ones diet, then making fish stock will mean you have fish waste that can go to the chooks...  they love that