Feeding laying hens at home 

When buying egg breed chickens for a household, owners want to get the most out of them. Any owner of farm animals knows that the full return from them can only be obtained with proper feeding. You can’t feed a cow with straw alone and expect to get 50 liters of milk with a 7% fat content from her.

Likewise with chickens. In order for chickens to lay large eggs with strong shells, they must receive all the vitamins, minerals and trace elements they need. This is not counting what is indicated on all food packaging: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

But organizing the proper feeding of laying hens at home is very difficult even for an experienced poultry farmer, not to mention beginners.

All tables indicating the feeding norms and the number of necessary elements contain very average values. For example, all tables indicate that laying hens need 0,5 g of table salt per day. But what region does this chicken live in, and most importantly, what region does it eat grain from?

In the Altai Territory, forages grown in saline areas are highly valued by local farmers, since as a result of eating these forages, animals do not need to add fodder salt.

Mountainous areas are poor in iodine and the “mountain” laying hen should receive more iodine than a chicken living by the sea.

So you can see almost any element. In one region there will be an excess of it, in another there will be a shortage.

In order to properly compose the diet of a laying hen, you will have to take each new batch of feed for analysis and, at the same time, chicken blood for biochemistry. Considering that laying hens are usually given several types of grains and protein products, the chemical analysis of each batch of feed is below average pleasure.

There are two ways to solve this problem: feeding chickens with special feed for laying hens and not bothering yourself by reading the feeding norms in reference books and textbooks. With the exception of a very critical shortage / excess of any elements, a living organism is able to independently regulate the absorption of the substances it needs.

Features of feeding laying hens

At home, feeding laying hens according to the norms presented in animal science textbooks is almost impossible to organize.

In addition to the well-known proteins, fats, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus and the most famous vitamins, laying hens need much less known substances, the presence of which the owners of domestic laying hens do not focus on.

Usually there is enough phosphorus in grain feeds, so you can not think about it and just add fodder chalk or limestone.

When feeding laying hens at home, nutrient norms can be estimated according to the condition of the eggs and their number. The most difficult thing here is that the lack or excess of any element causes a chain reaction in the absorption of other nutrients, and it is often very difficult to understand what exactly needs to be added or reduced.

Calcium

The calcium content in a chicken egg is on average 2 g. With a high egg production, a lack of calcium greatly affects the condition of the laying hens themselves and the quality of the eggs. Not only egg production and shell quality decrease, but the plasticity of bones in laying hens also increases. Such bones are called “gutta-percha”. The amount of calcium that a laying hen can “give” for eggs from her own bones is enough for only 3-4 eggs. Next, the laying hen will give out an egg without a shell.

Phosphorus

Calcium without phosphorus is not absorbed. But fortunately, there is a lot of this element in grain feeds and a lot in flour milling waste – bran. If laying hens are prepared with bran-based wet mash, there is no need to worry about a lack of phosphorus.

Vitamin D₃

There is limestone in the feeder all the time, bran is given out regularly, and the shell of the eggs is still weak and soft. Have you checked the food for vitamin D? With its deficiency, calcium is poorly absorbed, so the constant presence of limestone in the feeders is not enough, you also need cholecalciferol in the feed or a long walk on the street.

Sodium

Vitamin D₃ has already been added in the right quantities, having carried out a chemical analysis of the feed, and the eggs, as they were with a bad shell, remain. Because not everything is so simple.

Calcium will be poorly absorbed even with a lack of sodium. Sodium is part of ordinary table salt, another name for which is sodium chloride. Salt laying hen should receive 0,5 – 1 g per day.

Added salt and it got worse? Perhaps the fact is that before that there was an excess of sodium. Chickens that eat the leftovers of cooked food from the human table often suffer from an excess of salts in the body. Due to an excess of salts, the absorption of calcium also slows down.

Manganese

The shell becomes thinner and egg production also decreases due to a lack of manganese. In addition to the thinning of the shell, with a lack of manganese, “mottling” is also observed. Not spots of a more intense color, but areas of a thinner shell, noticeable when looking at the egg in the light. Manganese requires 50 mg per day.

In addition to the above trace elements and minerals, laying hens also need:

• zinc 50 mg;
• iron 10 mg;
• copper 2,5 mg;
• cobalt 1 mg;
• iodine 0,7 mg.

Daily doses are indicated.

The metabolism of chickens is affected not only by trace elements, but also by amino acids. Without amino acids, the assimilation of microelements and minerals is impossible. The necessary protein synthesis for an egg without amino acids is also impossible.

The table below shows the daily amino acid requirements for laying hens.

Daily feeding rates for laying hens:

During the laying period, laying hens have a greater need for vitamins. But again, you need to be careful not to overdose on vitamin supplements. Hypervitaminosis is worse than hypovitaminosis.

In addition to the most famous and commonly listed vitamins A, D, E, group B, chickens need a couple more rather exotic vitamins K and H.

Excess calcium

They eliminated the lack of calcium, another problem appeared: a thick, rough shell.

Such a shell can form with an excess of calcium or a lack of water.

With a lack of water, the egg lingers in the oviduct of the laying hen, acquiring extra layers of the shell. To eliminate this problem, it is enough to organize a laying hen with constant access to water even in winter. You can put heated drinkers, if you can find them.

The second reason for egg retention in the oviduct is the short daylight hours in winter. In this case, egg production decreases, and calcium continues to be supplied with feed. It is necessary to increase daylight hours due to artificial lighting and replace part of the calcium-rich feed with whole grains.

Features of the diet of egg laying hens

The basis of the diet of laying hens is the grain of cereal plants: barley, millet, corn, sorghum, oats and others. Legumes: soybeans, peas and others – give in an amount of about 10%, although it is this grain that contains the maximum amount of protein needed by laying hens and some of the essential amino acids, for example, lysine. But an overdose of protein is also not needed.

But you can’t do without fiber at all. It stimulates the bowels.

Dry food type

When preparing feed for chickens on their own, the following proportions (in%) are adhered to:

• grain 60-75;
• wheat bran up to 7;
• meal/cake from 8 to 15;
• fish/meat and bone/bone meal 4-6;
• yeast 3-6;
• fodder fat 3-4;
• grass flour 3-5;
• mineral-vitamin premixes 7-9.

With a dry type of feeding, it is better if laying hens receive a complete feed that already contains all the nutrients they need. Compound feed for one chicken will go up to 120 g per day.

Combined type of feeding of laying hens

With a combined type of feeding, the diet for laying hens will consist of 80% grains and additives and 20% succulent feed.

With a combined type of feeding, chickens can be given animal protein contained in milk and meat. In addition to flour made from fish, bones, blood, chickens are given whey and skim. Some owners even give away cottage cheese.

A good option is dry bread soaked in dairy products.

Feed laying hens on a schedule or with constant access to feed?

Chickens have a habit of digging up the feed with their feet, throwing it in all directions, so many owners prefer to feed the hens at a certain time. In this case, the chickens are given a portion so that they eat it right away. At the same time, laying hens are provided with constant access to feed at poultry farms, which is more cost-effective, given the need for high egg-laying intensity in laying hens at poultry farms.

When feeding on a schedule, laying hens should be fed at least 3 times a day in winter, and 4-5 times a day in summer, at intervals of 3-4 hours. Well, you can’t leave the house, just feed the chickens.

For home conditions, there is also a way out. You can make bunker feeders for chickens from sewer pipes. It is inexpensive, but laying hens will have constant access to feed, and they will not be able to dig it out.

There are many options for these feeders. The video shows another example of a chicken feeder. And not only feeders, but also drinking bowls from pipes.