Feeding Your Backyard Flock - When & What to Feed

You brought home a box of adorable fluffy chicks, grabbed the bag of Starter Feed recommended by the store associate, set up a brooder, and officially embarked on your personal backyard chicken adventure! It's a lot of fun, a ton of work, and absolutely worthwhile.

Welcome! You have joined a community of folks unlike any other. Whether you decided to raise chicks for egg or meat production, or to rock an epic IG worthy coop full of bougie birds, there is much to learn and more to share.

And that brings us to today's topic: feed.

Just as we humans need a variety of vitamins and nutrients to stay healthy, chickens need a balanced diet to grow at a healthy pace and stay strong and productive for the duration of their lives. Most feed you can purchase at your local feed store contains critical nutrients to get your chicks started right and keep laying hens healthy. However, it's important to make sure you're feeding the right blend at the right time for your chicken's welfare. Let's start with the top two callouts on most packaging: calcium and protein content.

One of the first thing you'll see on a bag of chicken feed is the protein content. It varies depending on the suggested age range, as high as 20% for most brands. 

Typically, the higher protein is formulated for mixed flocks or younger chickens to support rapid growth. The protein helps muscle tone, feather production, and energy to process and use the feed they eat. 

Fun fact: chicks eat almost constantly while they're growing. You've watched your biddies run around in a circle, stop to stuff their face in their food, get a quick drink and pass out where they're standing. That's why it's important that chicks have a constant light source for the first 8 or so weeks of life; they wake up and eat throughout the night, too!

Calcium is important to chick growth for strong bones, but more important for laying hens. When a chicken's body develops the shell of an egg, it uses a TON of calcium. If the chicken doesn't receive enough calcium in their feed or as a supplement, then the shells will become soft, break down to nothing, and calcium will begin to leach from the hen's bones. 

Remember: the egg is supposed to be growing a healthy chick, not only become your breakfast, so the production for even an unfertilized egg still requires a lot of nutrients.

Something to consider when looking at calcium versus protein content in your poultry feed is the breed of your birds. For larger, slow growing birds (such as Cochens, Jersey Giants and Brahmas), it may be prudent to keep them on high protein feed for longer. Too much calcium can hinder growth by building up and stunting the chicks. A non-laying bird isn't using excess calcium for egg production, so it builds up in their bones and kidneys.

If you're raising meat birds, then you definitely want to stay away from extra calcium and restrict access to feed for part of the day instead of free feeding. Meat birds are bred to grow fast and put on weight, but they can gorge themselves to obesity if left with food 24/7. They need high protein for the duration of their growth period until they are processing weight.

If you have rooster only or bachelor flocks, then you want to avoid the high calcium feed, as well. Naturally, males don't lay eggs, so the calcium will only do them harm. If your roo is with a flock of hens on layer feed, give the flock scratch and allow them to forage to mix up their diet and give your rooster variety.

Now let's discuss the popular feed classifications.

Higher in protein and typically fortified with other nutrients (and possibly medications) to start your chicks off right, the Starter Feed is recommended for chicks up to 8 weeks old. It helps them to develop and grow quickly while the medicated feed helps to prevent common chick illnesses. The crumbles are small to be easily digested and blended to offer a nutrient-dense feed. There are many fruits and veggies you can offer your chicks, but it is advised that it is in small amounts. Scientists and farmers have worked together for generations to formulate a well-rounded feed, so even if it doesn't look appetizing to you personally, your chicks need it! 

If you're looking for an organic version of Starter Feed, expect to pay a little more. Regardless of which route you decide to take with your backyard flock - organic, medicated, unmedicated, corn-free, etc. - make sure you're setting your babies up for success with Starter Feed!

The next stage of a chicken's feeding schedule is Grower Feed. Note that some brands have a high protein Starter/Grower, and that's completely fine. The important part is that your poultry is getting enough protein to grow, grow, grow! It's incredible how fast they lose their fluff and become little mutant raptors. It's a rough awkward stage. XD 

Typically you will feed your birds Grower Feed until they are getting ready to lay. This is breed specific, so you'll want to do some research, but the general rule of thumb is to start mixing Grower and Layer feed (for egg production birds) at around 14 to 16 weeks of age. for large, slow growing birds, anticipate mixing feed closer to 20 to 22 weeks of age.

Now on to the exciting part more most backyard chicken tenders: egg production. Once your girls start growing their combs and waddles, and the pink begins to turn red, your chickens are coming into sexual maturity, which means eggs!!!

Their little bodies are ramping up the hormones and begining the processes of regular egg production, and part of that means calcium. They'll still need plenty of protein, but you'll notice that layer feed tends to be closer to 16% protein content to make way for calcium fortified crumbles, pellets, or whole grain blends. Some people recommend feeding grower feed until your girls lay their first egg, but I'm in support of supplementation for health, and calcium for maturing pullets is no different. Not only is layer feed designed to support new egg layers, but it is intended to keep your girls strong and healthy for their entire egg producing lifecycles. For many breeds, that can be 5+ years, especially if you have them on quality, calcium fortified feed! 

Let's say (like us) you opted for a variety of chickens because why the heck not have a flock filled with all the colors???!!!

We have Brahmas, Australorps, Ameracaunas, Black Sex Links, Jersey Giants, and a few other random breeds. Some are early layers, other are big, slow growers. But what do you do if they're all in the same coop?

Hint: feeding everyone separately several times a day won't work. 😅

What you can do is offer the feed needed for your youngest or slow growing birds--grower feed--and give your flock a supplement of oyster shell or other calcium fortified treat separately.

Nature is incredibly in-tune, so healthy chickens will only eat what they need. Your girls preparing to lay (or who are currently laying) will find and eat the calcium their bodies need while the chicks, roos, or slower growers will not. They may check it out and taste it, but they shouldn't take in much and it'll be safe.

In conclusion, it's not too complicated to feed your backyard flock healthfully! Just a little education can go a long way. And best of all? Chickens are resilient, so you don't have to get everything exactly right. Just do your best! If you have a bunch of grower and think your girls are ready for layer, don't their it out. Just keep mixing until it's all gone. No waste necessary.

How do you feed you flocks? What are their favorite treats? Do you supplement your chickens bagged feed? Let us know below!

And as always, stay meepy!

- The Triple C Team