Feeding chickens ?

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
silly question probably !

can i feed our few house chicken (that have access to grass etc) on just wheat ? or do they need something else in their diet ?

is whole wheat ok or should it be rolled ?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I sell wheat to poultry folk , they mix it whole with layer stuff , whatever that is .

my wife has been buying layer stuff - I'm wondering if i can just use our wheat though or maybe mix it with something else we have ? batley, beans , linseed etc ?
 

Jerry

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Devon
Straight wheat for layers is not going the best sole feed for them, its a bit like us living of chocolate. We love it and we could live of it but it wont be a great diet long term.

They need a mixed balanced diet just like us.
 

Auckland Blue

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Essex
We have a few hens in a large walled Victorian cattle yard. Cattle long gone and now it is grassed over. We feed them whole wheat and they have access to some layers pellets. I was surprised, they do eat the pellets but don't clear them up, they prefer the wheat. Being on grass, they find all sorts of other things to eat so alleviating the need to fill up on pellets i guess.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
When I first left school, I worked on a farm with loads of bantams around the place. They were never fed but "scratched a living". That didn't stop them laying; Bill Jacobs, the shepherd taught me how to get a cup of tea by timing our deliveries of "newly discovered eggs" to the farmhouse at the most likely times to be offered one.

Otherwise it was "keep an eye out for when Sally gets back".
Then: "Want a hand in with the shopping Sally?"
"Oh thanks Bill, would you like a cup of coffee?"
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
@Clive, this is what I get get from village pet stores
20201004_184033.jpg
20201004_184108.jpg

I've 22 geriatric hens and a cockerel that I could happily strangle.
They were laying 10-14 eggs per day through summer ,now down to 2 a day,,they cost more to feed than what they are worth,I would get shut of the lot but I was out voted
 

ImLost

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Not sure
Grains can be fed whole to hens as they have a crop to break them down with, although I do find some struggle with whole maize. You shouldn't feed hens barley as apparently they don't have the enzymes to break it down or something?! I've not had any first hand experience of any problems caused by it though.
 

colhonk

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
A treat,whole wheat off the heap,soaked in water for 3 days, liquid strained off. Do no give them a lot but they love it.
Do any of you put White Iodine in their drinking water?
 

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