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What, besides the bought feed,can be fed to the hens? 

Hi Heldi,

My dad used to keep chickens, 70 was the most we ever had. We fed them daily on cooked-up spud peelings (used a pressure cooker, 20 minutes if I remember right, it was a good 25 years ago) and mixed in a handful of chicken feed / mash / pellets. Any cooked up garden scraps like that (leftover cabbage leaves, etc) they loved, especially in the winter when it was still steaming & warm, they would almost fight to get to it first. We had a good solid old pressure cooker which we took down the garden every day full of mixed up mash and simply stuck it on the floor in the chicken run, and recovered it a couple hours later to clean and reuse the next day. I can still remember the smell! (it was not cordon bleu!). Obviously the occasional (usually daily) handful of corn to scrabble around for.  They didn't need long to eat any remaining grass, they occupied the whole bottom half of the garden but with up to 70 hens they soon made a lovely muddy mess... We used to go out to the local grain silo every couple of months, where you could buy different grades of feed by the sackful, and we had two big metal drums (the size of oildrums) to store them in - but probably 70-80% of their food was leftover vegetable scraps (so it didn't make it into the compost bin, but that was compensated by the layers of good strong ammoniacal chicken manure which you need to rot down well before you can use it on your raspberries etc)

It was my job to go down every morning and let them out of the hutch, and close them in at night, usually also to collect the eggs.

Don't store the chicken feed in or near their shed if you can help it - I frequently saw a rat jumping out of the shed when I closed the door at night.. and that was only with the food scraps on the floor!

The worst was the few times when the fox got there before me, climbed over the 6 foot fence - the very worst was Christmas day around 30 years ago when the fox got in for his own Christmas dinner and sent the chickens flying over our house into the street (even though they had their flight feathers clipped, they managed to fly right over the house and we rescued those which were rescuable halfway down the street.... it was hard to begrudge him his Christmas dinner but he certainly had a good one that year!

Thanks for your help Black Forest Dan. That was interesting reading. 70 chickens!!

I've given my chickens pasta,mashed potatoes and various veg peelings. They've had those raw and are keen on the carrot and cauli but left the cabbage and broccoli. Will try to cook it all up and see how they like it then.

I've read you can give chooks porridge. Is this just the bog standard porridge that we make for our breakfast do you know?

   Pinhead oatmeal make as you would for yourself....my friend adds hen
   mash to it and his left over tatters from the night befores evening meal
  which he is using to dry the mix a bit  I have abother friend who orders up
  extra fried rice portions when he has a takeaway... hens go mental for it
  he spoils them he gives them tins of sweetcorn too...try hangin your broccli
  up...they like a challenge....me myself I used to draw the line and never
  gave them any processed foods at all...another thing they like as a
  breakfast is bread soaked in milk.......ohhhh and if you have been letting
  them free range or they have access to snails or slugs...please do remember
  to worm them....its not nice to see a chook with gap worm..... think am
  missing keepin hens now !!!  ::) :'(................. ;D ;D ;D

What the chook is gap worm jaggy?

If you feed a complete pellet or mash this is specifically formulated to provide all they need. I use Allen and Page feed and find it very good and my hens are very happy to eat it.

They also do get treats but not until they are let out of their run to free range in the afternoon. They love things like apple cores and grapes and will eat any vegetable kitchen scraps. Do not give them raw potato or lettuce though as it is not too good for them. They go mad for cold spaghetti or mash potato.

At bed time they also get a handful or two of mixed corn. This is the equivalent of chocolate for hens and they go mad for it. The reason I give it in the evening is that they take a while to digest it and it is seen as a warming food to tide them over the night. Do not give them too much though as it can make them put on fat and fat hens do not lay as well.

Also at this time of year when it is very cold they get a warm mash in the morning. This is 2 parts sunflower seeds, 1 part mixed corn and 2 parts layers pellets put in a bowl and I then add enough boiling water to make a nice consistency mash. They get this first thing when they are let out and they love it. Warm them up nicely first thing.

If you have nothing to hand pellets are all they need but give them treats in moderation.

As my hens free range in the afternoon they also supplement their diet will all sorts of wild seeds and bugs. If they do not free range also make sure they have access to grit and oyster shell. Grit needed to help digestion and oyster shell for calcium for the eggs. I give access to both and even though they free range they do take it.

Other things you can think about are Apple Cider Vinegar in the water, just a few drops in a pint of water, this is very good for their digestion system. Some people also pop a garlic clove in the water for the same reason. Do not use galvanised water containers if adding vinegar as it corrodes and buy unrefined vinegar from a farmers store as it is cheaper and better for them.

During moults I also add a little poultry spice as a general tonic.

For worming, I tend to worm 2 or 3 times a year. I use a broad spectrum worming that controls gap warm and intestinal worms. The one I use is Flubenvet which you can get on line yiu local vet can order it in. The tub size may seem a little large if you only have a few hens but it keeps for ages. The advantage with this one is there is no withdrawal period for the eggs unlike things like Panacure where you cannot use the eggs for a couple of weeks.

HTH

Jerry

Thanks Jerry that is really helpful.

I felt a bit daft asking such a basic question but I needed help so I knew I wouldn't be doing any harm.

Sorry its taken me a few days to answer!  :)

Thanks Jerry for covering it !!

All the above sounds great. I give my girls porridge every morning, they love it.

If you give them potato's, make sure you cook it. I give all vege, mostly cooked left overs.  They love Mash as Jerry said.

A handful per bird of corn or wheat heats them up for that long cold night, so give it to them just before bed time.

I give ACV ( 2%) on the 1st of each month, its the only way I remember to do it. And give it to them for one week. 

Ask any question you want....the only daft question is the one not asked.