Skills books › Keeping Backyard Chickens in South Africa

What to feed laying hens

Layer feed first, clean water always, and scraps only as a small extra. A hen fed mainly on scraps, maize or bread gets too little protein and calcium. She lays fewer eggs, with thin shells, and becomes unhealthy.

Layer feed is the base of the diet

A complete layer feed gives a hen energy, protein, calcium for the shell, and vitamins and minerals in the right balance.

• Start layer feed at point of lay, at about 18 weeks or when the first egg appears. Before that, young birds need grower feed. Too much calcium too early harms their kidneys.
• Mash, crumbles and pellets are the same feed in different forms. Pellets waste less.
• Keep the feeder topped up so that hens can eat when they want during the day.
• Most hens eat roughly 110 to 130 g a day, more in cold weather and less in heat.
• Change feeds gradually over a week.

To plan a month's feed, multiply the number of hens by the daily amount by 30. Six hens at 120 g a day need about 22 kg a month.

Grit and shell

These are two different things. Offer each in its own small dish and let the hens help themselves.

• Grit is small, hard stones. Chickens have no teeth, and the gizzard uses grit to grind grains, greens and insects.
• Shell is crushed oyster shell or limestone, for extra calcium and strong eggshells.

Kitchen scraps

Scraps should be no more than about a tenth of the diet.

Safe in moderation:

• vegetable peelings and leaves, such as spinach, cabbage, carrot and pumpkin;
• plain cooked rice, pap and pasta;
• fruit, but not much citrus;
• garden weeds that the hens like;
• mealworms and insects.

Never give:

• avocado, whose skin and pip are poisonous to birds;
• mouldy or rotten food;
• salty, spicy, sugary or processed food;
• chocolate, coffee or alcohol;
• raw dried beans;
• green potato peels, raw potato, or tomato and potato leaves;
• raw meat.

Give scraps in the afternoon, after the hens have eaten their layer feed. Give only what they clear in about 20 minutes and remove the leftovers the same day, or you will feed flies and rats.

Clean water, every day

Water is the most important nutrient. A hen without water stops laying within a day and can die in hot weather.

• A laying hen drinks roughly 250 to 500 ml a day, and twice as much in the heat.
• Fill the drinkers with fresh water every morning, and again in the afternoon in hot weather.
• Scrub the drinkers at least once a week.
• Keep them in the shade.
• Have more than one, so that a bossy hen cannot keep the others away.
• Raise them to about the height of the hens' backs, to keep bedding and droppings out.

When egg numbers drop or birds look unwell, check the water first.

Feeders and storage

• Use a hanging tube feeder or a covered trough that keeps feed dry and limits spilling.
• Close feeders or bring them in at night if rats are a problem.
• Store feed in a metal or thick plastic bin with a tight lid, off the floor, somewhere cool and dry.
• Buy only what you will use in about a month.
• Throw away mouldy, damp or musty feed. Moulds make poisons that sicken birds.

This guide is based on Chapter 5 of Keeping Backyard Chickens in South Africa.