Feeding Chickens a Homestead Diet: Grain, Treats, & Supplements
by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | November 7, 2023
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Feeding chickens a homestead diet is a great way to raise your flock in a sustainable and frugal way! Each homestead flock’s diet may look slightly different, but there are a few key elements that will ensure the diet is balanced and well-rounded. Learning how to use chicken feed, table scraps, treats, natural supplements, and forage to feed your flock a nutritious diet can help you raise a natural homestead flock. A balanced and wholesome diet for your homestead flock will ensure you have happy, healthy, and productive chickens!
The Balanced Formula: A Homestead Diet
Like any animal, chickens have complex dietary needs. A chicken’s diet should provide all the essential nutrients that the chicken needs in order to live and reproduce. Not only that, but each nutrient needs to be present in specific amounts. Some nutrients even work together and need to be present at the same time in order to be beneficial.
On the homestead, a chicken’s diet can be varied but it should still be balanced. A balanced diet ensures that a chicken is receiving the nutrients it needs without being deficient or consuming some nutrients in excess. That means balancing all the different food sources for the homestead flock.
I have broken down the homestead poultry diet into five categories…
A Homestead Diet for Chickens:
- a base ration– basically formulated chicken feed, this contains the proper amounts of essential nutrients that should be available at all times
- treats- these are special occasion foods that are not necessary for chickens to thrive
- scraps- technically treats, these are leftover foods that can be fed to chickens to create a sustainable and eco-friendly homestead
- supplements- these are foods that provide holistic benefits and can be added to a flock’s diet to improve their health
- free-range- this part of the homestead diet is based on your discretion but is very helpful for raising chickens frugally and naturally
Each one of these elements of the homestead diet for chickens needs to be balanced. Too much of one or not enough of another can cause health issues and reduce the longevity or productivity of your flock. An imbalanced diet can also suppress a chicken’s immune system, making the chicken more susceptible to disease and parasites.
A balanced homestead diet for chickens will provide them with all the nutrients they need and still help you raise chickens naturally, frugally, and sustainably. Let’s dive into each of these 5 elements!
#1. Base Rations: Chicken Feed
The basis of a homestead diet for chickens should be a pre-mixed, complete poultry feed. This will provide your flock with all the essential nutrients they need to live. A pre-mixed feed should contain protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. These are usually provided by legumes, grains, seeds, oils, and vitamin/mineral mixes.
For a homestead poultry diet, the pre-mixed feed should also be in mash form. Mash is simply the term used for poultry feed that has not been processed into pellets. The grains, legumes, and seeds may be heat processed and slightly ground, but they are still mostly in their raw, whole state. The more whole the grains, seeds, and legumes are, the more nutrients they retain and add to the diet.
Tips for Finding & Buying Mash Mixes:
- Local Farms– Contact local farms that sell livestock feed and see if they sell a mash poultry mix. Mash chicken feed may also be called whole grain chicken feed.
- Graineries– Contact a local grainery. Some graineries will even custom mix feed for you.
- Online Resources– You can also purchase mash feed from reputable online sources. My favorite mash feed brands are: CedarCrest Farm & Feed, Scratch & Peck Feeds
- DIY Feed– Make your own mash feed. This should only be done if you have adequate knowledge of a chicken’s dietary needs and have created or tested a reliable recipe.
- Feed Ingredients– When choosing a mash feed, look for organic and non-GMO feed ingredients.
- Protein Content– The minimum protein content should be 16% and the maximum protein content should be 24% for adult chickens.
Whether you go with a store-bought or homemade pre-mixed mash ration, there is one thing you can do to increase the nutrients in any mash feed. I highly recommend fermenting some mash feed to give to your flock as part of their homestead diet. It will help save you money and optimize the nutrition your flock receives from their feed!
Why Mash is so Important?
There are other forms of chicken feed, such as pellets, crumbles, or a mash/pellet mix. However, using a mash feed as part of the homestead diet for your chickens is important because of the other elements you will be adding to their diet. By providing a mash feed, the chickens can eat what elements of the ration they need at the time. Given that you will be providing treats, scraps, and supplements, these additional elements can replace some of the nutrients in the mash ration.
Using a mash ration gives your flock control over the nutrients they are receiving from their homestead diet. Chickens are smart enough that they can consume a balanced diet if all the essential nutrients are available for them to pick and choose from. Mash feed should be supplied free-choice at all times for your flock to munch on throughout the day.
#2. Food Scraps for Chickens
After you have found a base mash ration to feed your flock, the next part of the homestead diet for chickens is food scraps. Scraps are any foods from your kitchen or garden that you don’t to eat but are too nice to throw in the compost. Feeding your flock food scraps is an integral part of raising chickens on the homestead. It may have even been a reason you got chickens in the first place!
There are a few guidelines to follow when feeding your flock scraps:
Safe & Unsafe Foods
First, you must know what chickens can and cannot eat. Get familiar with this list of safe and unsafe table scraps for chickens so that you can be sure you are giving your chickens scraps that are edible and safe for them to consume. After identifying if a food is safe or unsafe, consider its condition. If a food is moldy or rotten, it’s better off in the compost.
Frequency & Amount
Second, scraps don’t need to be a daily occurrence. This is part of feeding your flock a balanced diet. Remember, the mash feed is providing all the essential nutrients your flock needs, the scraps are just extra. Part of homesteading means using what food you have and not being wasteful. Chickens are there for taking care of food that is too far gone for you to eat (like wilted lettuce) or food that you wouldn’t want to eat (like meat scraps). They do not need to be fed a fixed meal of food scraps every day!
If you have lots of scraps or leftovers, considering freezing some of the scraps for feeding to your flock later. That way they don’t get too many scraps in one day. What you eat will be what your flock eats. If you eat a healthy homestead diet, your flock will benefit from the scraps and leftovers you give them from your own diet.
Sources
Lastly, scraps don’t just have to come from the kitchen! Garden scraps, such as weeds and overgrown produce, are great for your chickens to consume. Orchard scraps are healthy too, just don’t go crazy with the fruit. Chickens don’t need a lot of fruit (natural sugar) in their diet on a regular basis. Butchering scraps are fine too as long as you treat the scraps like you would any other meat so that bacteria doesn’t build up.
Tips for Feeding Scraps:
- Veggies– The healthiest scraps your chickens can have on a daily basis are leafy greens and vegetables since these are elements that are not already part of their diet.
- Meat– Meat scraps are good to offer on a weekly basis if possible since they incorporate in a source of animal-based protein.
- Grains– Keep grain scraps, like bread products, crackers, and pasta, to a minimum since your flock is already getting grains and carbohydrates from their mash feed.
- Dairy– Dairy product scraps should also be limited since chickens can’t digest the lactic acid very well. I recommend feeding dairy no more than once a week.
- Fruit– Fruit scraps should be limited as well since they are high in sugar. I recommend feeding fruit no more than once or twice a week in limited quantities.
- Add Supplements– Make some scraps even healthier by adding supplements to the scraps! I especially like sprinkling supplemental herbs onto meat scraps for my flock.
#3. Treats for Chickens
Yes, there is a difference between treats and food scraps! Food scraps are your leftovers. Treats are foods that you actually make (or buy) for your flock. Treats can come in both homemade and store-bought versions. Obviously homemade treats are more practical and frugal for the homestead, but sometimes you just can’t resist buying your flock a treat at the farm store! Some healthy treats can only be out-sourced (bought) for your flock as well.
Treats are not food scraps and they are not supplements, they are their own separate element of a chicken’s diet. Reasons why you would give your flock treats include for seasonal reasons, as boredom busters, or for training. Some treats can be considered a healthy and natural addition to your flock’s diet. Learn more about healthy chicken treats vs healthy snacks in this post!
Treats are one of the main ways that a chicken’s diet can become unbalanced. Many treats are high in fat and energy and don’t add much nutrition to a chicken’s diet. However, by paying attention to what treats you buy and by making your own treats, you can incorporate them into your flock’s diet without causing an imbalance in the diet.
Tips for Offering Treats:
- Healthy Options– Buy healthier treats like Farmer’s Helper Ultrakibble and Grubbly Farms black soldier fly larvae.
- DIY Treats– Make your own flock blocks, suet cakes, and scratch grains so that you can put wholesome ingredients in them for your flock.
- Seasonal Treats– Treats that are high in protein and fat are good to give your flock during the winter.
- Treat Alternatives– Instead of using treats as boredom busters, try turning food scraps into boredom busters or use other non-edible boredom busters instead!
- Training Treats- Seeds, like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, are healthy treats to use for training chickens.
- Using Treats– Offer treats only when needed, such as on frigid winter mornings and evenings or when you are trying to get your flock back into the enclosure after free-ranging.
Tips for Making Homemade Treats:
- Healthy Binders– Instead of using cooking fats for suet cakes and flock blocks, try coconut oil, gelatin, or naturally binding ingredients like oats and peanut butter.
- Varied Ingredients– Use wholesome ingredients that are not already present in your flock’s diet. I like to make these quinoa treats for my chickens since they are high in protein.
- DIY Scratch– For making your own scratch grain mix, use healthy seeds, whole grains, and dried insects: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, whole oats, millet, black soldier fly larvae
- Sprouting– Sprouting seeds, or growing fodder and microgreens are excellent treats to grow for your flock.
- Insects– Try your hand at raising bugs, like mealworms or black soldier fly larvae, for a healthy treat alternative. Insects are a natural part of a chicken’s diet.
#4. Natural Supplements for Chickens
Another part of the homestead diet for chickens is natural supplements. So, scraps are leftover foods and treats are special foods fed on occasion, what are supplements? Supplements are any food you use with a specific health purpose in mind. Natural supplements should provide a holistic benefit to the health of your flock.
Now there are two basic categories for natural supplements in the homestead flock’s diet. Individual supplements are supplements fed to an individual chicken who is being treated for a specific ailment. These supplements are generally used in specific quantities, for a specific purpose, and for a certain length of time.
However, the most common supplements added to a homestead flock’s diet are maintenance supplements. Maintenance supplements are supplements you feed to your chickens to promote overall good health. They can also be used to supply additional nutrition to the diet. Most maintenance supplements can be fed on a regular basis. They help support a strong immune system so your flock can fight disease and parasites.
Regular Basis Supplements:
- garlic- gradually add garlic to your flock’s water, working up to 2-3 crushed cloves per gallon of water once a week
- probiotics- add to your flock’s water in a ratio of 1 T. per gallon of water, best offered during times of stress (sudden weather changes, disease, parasites, flock disturbance)
- herbs- offer free-choice or mix into leafy green scraps, weed scraps, and other table scraps (8 Herbs to Grow for Chickens)
- kelp- you can mix this into your flock’s mash ration at approximately 1/4 cup of kelp per 11 pounds of mash
Other supplements, like sunflower seeds, whole oats, and quinoa can be used as treats for your flock. Incorporating black soldier fly larvae into your flock’s diet several times a week is helpful for flocks that don’t free-range.
There are also seasonal supplements, feed supplements, water supplements, and free-choice supplements. Seasonal supplements are best fed during a specific time of year as they help meet seasonal dietary needs. Feed, water, and free-choice supplements refer to the method in which a supplement is provided. I mostly encourage water supplements and free-choice supplements. To learn more about adding supplements to your flock’s homestead diet check out my post on Homemade Chicken Feed Supplements.
#5. Forage & Free-Ranging Chickens
The last element of the homestead diet for chickens is forage, or free-ranging. This element is optional. Some homesteaders let their chickens free-range while others prefer to just provide plenty of enclosure space and use supplements, scraps, and treats to add additional nutrition to their flock’s diet. Deciding whether to free-range your flock or not is a personal decision, but I would like to highlight the benefits it adds to a flock’s homestead diet.
Free-ranging can come in varying degrees, from allowing your flock to free-range all-day everyday, to monitored free-range, to fenced in free-range. No matter to what degree your flock gets to free-range, giving your flock access to natural forage creates a more natural diet for your flock.
Benefits of Forage to the Homestead Diet:
- Saves on Feed– Chickens who are allowed to forage consume less mash ration. This saves money without compensating dietary needs.
- Varied Natural Diet– Free-ranging lets chickens consume a healthy variety of protein sources and leafy greens, which provide energy, vitamins, and minerals to the chicken’s diet.
- Exercise– Chickens who can free-range get ample exercise, which is just as important as a balanced diet.
- Natural Foods– Allowing your flock to free-range lets them consume foods that would naturally be a part of their diet in the wild. Nutrition from nature is always the best diet for any animal!
As you can see, the homestead diet for chickens gives your flock some control over their dietary needs. By starting with a base mash ration, you can be sure your flock is meeting all their dietary needs even with additional scraps, treats, and supplements. Giving your flock leftover food scraps as they are available ensures that no homestead meal goes to waste. Healthy treats can be used as boredom busters or training tools. And forage can supply a natural element of nutrition for your homestead flock. A chicken’s dietary needs are complex, by giving them some control over what they can eat you can allow your flock to balance their own diet.
Raising chickens is just the beginning to the homestead journey! We would love for you to join our modern pioneer community where we are committed to helping homesteaders of all levels live a more sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle! Become a modern pioneer with us!
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