Q&A for How to Make Feed for Chickens

Neither. It is for raising healthy broilers.

Make sure they have proper living conditions, such as fresh water, food and a place to rest. You should also get a chicken pen to protect them from any potential predators, and vaccinate them to reduce the number of chickens falling ill.

Unfortunately no, because they have lost their egg tooth, so they have to be fed just like chickens.

You can grow alternative grains and seeds for your chickens, such as millet or sunflower seeds. Additionally, you might be able to find local sources or suppliers who offer soy and corn-free feed options.

If you have one or more roosters with your hen(s), the eggs will hatch out baby chicks (if the eggs stay warm). If you don't have a rooster, you'll still get eggs but no baby chicks.

Place them in a box of appropriate size, and use a heat lamp above them or a heating pad under them.

That depend on what you mean by "training" them. You can begin desensitizing them to most things when they are very young, but have to wait until they are mature to teach them other things.

All chickens need food and water to always be available to them. Have a feeder and waterer always full and out in their coop and/or area to be easily accessible 24/7, 365.

1. Either have different shoes that you wear in your different chicken coops as well as another separate pair to wear in the areas where you keep your other animals, or get disposable covers to put on over your shoes in those areas. 2. Basil, mint, oregano, sage and many others are great for laying hens - and they love them! 3. Both are quite profitable, however, I recommend layers as they are a one-time investment that produces much income for years and years, whereas broilers you must continuously replace and only ever get one payment per animal.

The short answer is, no, you can't. Vegetables and such are great, nutritious treats for your chickens, but that cannot be their full diet. They also need chicken feed to survive and be healthy.

See Tell if a Chicken is Sick .

Starter feed is high in protein content, giving young chicks a healthy start when they're growing the fastest.

You can grind or mash or cook and mash feed for chicks. Grind it fine enough that they can easily pick it up and eat it. It shouldn't be so big that they wouldn't be able to get it into their mouths. Also, be sure they have access to tiny bits of crushed gravel. It helps them to digest their food.

"Feeding up to 25% cracked maize does not affect broiler growth performance while improving feed mill output by as much as 19%," according to research (Clark et al., 2009) from Kansas State University.

It's best to crack the maize first to make it easier for the chickens to swallow and digest.

Adding maize to broiler feed is fine, but don't make it their primary food source, as it lacks some of the nutrients necessary for their growth and development.

There are a few signs: she may squat when you approach her; she may stand still and open her wings when you're near; her wattle and comb may seem redder; she may cluck and chat more than usual; or she may be searching for and building a nesting area. Different breeds begin to lay at different ages: four to eight months, six months on average.

Yes, you can, as long as the feed fits in their beaks.

A nutritious feed for chickens in this age group should include complete proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. It's recommended to maintain this diet for the first 8 weeks of their life. For especially young chickens, ensure you choose the correct starter feeds to keep them healthy.

To make broiler chicken feed with soybeans, wheat bran, salt, and fish meal, ensure the mix meets nutritional needs. Obtain quality ingredients, heat-treat soybeans by roasting them at 250°F (121°C) for 30 minutes to remove anti-nutritional factors, then grind the soybeans and wheat bran into a fine meal.

Oyster shells can be a good source of calcium for chickens, helping them lay eggs with strong shells. Use oyster shells that are clean and properly prepared for optimal results.

Chicks should have a diet rich in grains, seeds, protein, and fruit and vegetable scraps until they are about 8 weeks old. If you have concerns, consider doing further research or consulting a vet.

Chickens often appear listless, stop eating and drinking, and hang their heads down when sick. Adding a teaspoon of electrolyte chick booster to a gallon of water can help. A teaspoon of sugar per quart of water might also assist, especially if the chicken has runny feces.

Start feeding broiler chicks once they have settled in their brooder and have had access to water. Chicks can survive the first 48 to 72 hours without feed due to nutrients from the yolk sac, but you should introduce starter feed early to ensure healthy growth.

Chickens will eat a variety of grains, seeds, grasses, and most weeds. When foraging, they often consume bugs, millet, grass and weed seeds, ground corn, oats, wheat, plantain seeds, grubs, worms, and even roadkill. Many people also feed their chickens leftover table or butchering scraps. To prepare your own feed, gather a variety of grains and available dried legumes, grind and mix them, and store the mixture in a rodent-proof container.

No. Another good thing to add to their diet would be grass. you can collect this by cutting it, mowing and collecting the grass from the bag, or a different way. Another good feed add-on would be bugs or mealworms.

You should try to use your feed up within 3 - 4 months. Over winter, keep it dry and cool; in the summer, you should freeze it if you can to prevent it from going bad. That also goes for hay.

Not all chickens lay every day, especially when it is cold, when molting or when they don't have food or water. You could put some types of beans in the feed but "common bean" is not very specific, so it depends on what beans you actually mean. And dried sweet potatoes are good for chickens, but have a lot of sugar, and I think it is best to only give them those as an occasional treat.

Oats can be replaced with ground flax or rice bran. Alfalfa meal can be replaced with soy or field beans with supplemented calcium powder or oyster shells.

No, when the article states ''store up to six months,'' it means that you can continue feeding the chicken feed to your chickens for six months before it goes bad. You can feed the chicken feed to your flock as soon as it's made.