I am looking into getting some chickens, but I know very little about them. The internet tells me that I need a specialist chicken food but having spoken to an elderly neighbor she tutted the notion of buy specialist feed, she gives scoops of barley and cabbage to them? What do you feed your chickens? I have a secure area to keep them in (an old play house that already hosts a number of intrepid swallows) And have plans for nest boxes. They will have plenty of roaming area (we own a field) Will their rooting supplement their diet sufficiently? Am I forgetting something? Is there anything that you wish you had known before you got them?
go to your local feed store..they have the different types of feed you need for layers or for eating the birds..
Took the plunge bought three and two ducklings, I bought a bag of feed to start with but hope not to have to buy another.
I think you can feed them scraps, and cabbage bits, and stuff if you want. They'll probably like that. You can always go with the standard feed bag. I asked my Sister about this because she has Chickens. She says during the first few months of a chicken's life they should have chick food. When they start laying eggs you should get them Layer(spelling?) food because they need the extra nutrients. Make sure they're secure at night. There are several night predators (and some day predators) who will try to kill them: foxes, raccoons, owls, hawks... Basically the nightmares of everyone who owns chickens.
no, you don't need special food. That's baloney. That's just like people who tell you your dog must have premium dog food only. Makes you wonder how dogs made it for thousands of years when they stuff they're selling is at most a few decades old. When I was young we had chickens, and we mostly fed them grain, but we'd mix in other stuff, like meat scraps. They're not that picky, and mixing in meat scraps saves money and prevents waste. But really, they'll eat anything. As kids we'd catch frogs and feed them to the chickens. It was fun, kept us busy, and our play time actually saved the family money haha.
