How do I feed my chickens a healthy diet? – RSPCA knowledge base (2024)

Whether your chickens are pets or kept for food (for eggs, for example), they all need a healthy diet to maintain their health during different life stages (growing, moulting, laying, etc.) which all put stress on their chickens in different ways . bodies.

There are a few things to keep in mind when talking about feeding chickens. The great thing is that of all the bird species in the world, chickens are the only ones for which we know their exact nutritional needs. Millions of dollars have been spent researching and understanding diets for our chickens. We would be foolish not to take advantage of that information and give our chickens the best diet possible.

The nutritional needs of poultry are influenced by many factors, including:

• Bird Species: Chickens are chickens – they are not turkeys, ducks or geese. They need chicken food - not turkey, duck or goose food!
• Age: Chicks are normally fed a starter diet (up to six weeks of age), then a growth diet (from six to eighteen weeks of age), followed by a layer diet (from 18 weeks of age). Some companies now produce a maintenance diet for non-laying roosters and adult hens.
• Gender and reproductive status: Before sexual maturity (3-6 months), roosters and chickens can usually be fed the same diet. After the onset of sexual maturity, there are significant differences in nutritional needs, and therefore different diets are required for each sex.
• Housing system – the type of housing system affects the activity level of the birds and therefore their energy needs.
• Health status – birds experiencing disease may benefit from increased intake of certain nutrients, usually vitamins.

Domesticated poultry are omnivores; they cannot rely on a diet consisting solely of grains, and their digestive system is not designed to process leafy material such as grasses. Whole wheat lacks protein, calcium and poultry vitamins, especially vitamin A, and its phosphorus content can vary widely.

Therefore, the basis of a poultry diet should be a good quality commercial feed. Modern commercial poultry feed in Australia is pelleted (compressed into thin cylinders and cut to suitable lengths and shapes). They are usually wheat/sorghum based with a significant proportion of ruminant meat and bone meal (except for vegetarian egg production) and some vegetable protein-rich materials (soybean meal, rapeseed meal, etc.), supplemented with vitamins and minerals. .

Starter diet is given to chicks up to six weeks old. These diets usually consist of small pellets and are higher in protein and energy, allowing for rapid growth at this age. Many chicken starters are treated with a class of medications that prevent coccidiosis (an intestinal parasite infection).

After six weeks of age, the chicks are transitioned to a growth diet for the next three months. This diet contains less protein, but has the same amount of energy as the starter diet.

From the age of 18 weeks, chickens are fed layer feed with more protein and calcium to meet egg production needs.

A note on feed additives

Additives are mainly added to the feed to improve the growth efficiency and/or laying ability of the bird, prevent diseases and improve feed utilization.In Australia, hormones have not been used in poultry feed since 1963. Growth-promoting antibiotics (often called 'growth hormones') were phased out in Australia in 2005.All additives used in animal feed must be approved for use and then used as prescribed in terms of inclusion levels and feeding duration.

Commonly used additives include medications to control intestinal parasites (medicated chicken starter), pre- and probiotics, enzymes, antioxidants and food acidifiers. Claims that commercial feeds are full of hormones and antibiotics have long been outdated.

What foods are available?

Various types of poultry feed are sold:

1. Moses:a nutritionally complete food in ground form. It is often used as a starter ration.
2. pil:a moss that has been pelletized; that is, compressed and formed into pellets in a pellet mill. Unlike puree, where the ingredients can be separated during the shipment and the poultry can choose from the ingredients, in a single pellet the ingredients stay together and the poultry eats the pellets whole. Pellets are often too large for newly hatched poultry.
3. Crumble:pellets sent through rollers to break them into granules. This is often used for chicken feed.
4. Kras:one or more varieties of whole, broken or rolled grains. Unlike other feeds, which are fed in troughs, hoppers or tube feeders, scraped grains are often spread on the ground. Therefore, a large particle size is desirable. Because they consist exclusively of grain, crab pellets are not a complete ration and are used as a supplement to the balanced ration.
5. Medicated feed:Many commercial starter diets are medical (see above). Care should be taken not to feed this food to species other than chickens as these medications can be toxic to turkeys and peaco*cks.

Chickens can also be fed table scraps, such as vegetable scraps and garden plants. Some poultry farmers also provide mealworms as a treat. These residues should not exceed 10% of the daily feed consumption, otherwise there is a risk of creating a nutritional imbalance. For more information on which foods to avoid, seeThis article.

Grit is useful for both digestion (insoluble grit) and a source of calcium for laying hens (soluble grit).

Putting it together

Feed for backyard and luxury breed poultry should be predominantly (~90%) a commercially prepared, balanced pelleted diet, which can then be supplemented (~10% of daily intake) with vegetable scraps, whole grains, garden feed, etc.

Water and feed consumption

Feed and water should be supplied in easy-to-clean containers with sufficient space (approx. 10 cm/bird) so that all chickens can eat or drink at the same time. The containers should not fall over easily and become contaminated; multiple containers must be present (in case one is knocked over/dirty/broken).

On average, adult chickens drink 400 ml of water per day. laying hens can drink up to 25% more than laying hens. Water and food consumption are interdependent, so reduced water intake can also lead to reduced food intake. There are other factors that influence water intake, the most obvious being temperature. For example, chickens drink 30-50% more water when the ambient temperature is above 32°C, compared to 21°C. Make sure your chickens always have plenty of clean drinking water.