I have been getting a number of questions recently about what else you need to give your chickens in addition to the feed. There are a number of different things out there from vitamins to oyster shells. The only thing that I give my own chicken besides feed is a little grit. Grit is another word for small rocks. They are usually rough instead of smooth. Chickens don’t have teeth, so to digest food they use ‘grit’ to grind the food up in their gizzard, before they digest it. I normally just spread a handful of grit around the yard and chicken run every few months. At our local chicken store, you can buy a small bag for a few dollars. Many people have questions about supplemental calcium for their chickens. You shouldn’t have to use any vitamins or other products along those lines unless there is a health problem with your chicken. Most feed is already fortified with enough calcium for your chickens. This is part of what separates a layer feed from a grower feed. If you find that the eggs shells are becoming a little thin, or are breaking a little too easily, then I would recommend adding a calcium supplement, otherwise don’t worry about it. The most common calcium supplement is oyster shells, and remember, just like with the grit a little goes a long way. Something else that works well, and I’m sure you have plenty of, are egg shells. Yes, chickens love to eat egg shells. What a great way to recycle. Make sure to smash or crunch up the shells into small pieces before letting the chickens eat them so they wont start a habit of eating their own eggs. I will write about preventing that in another post.
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I have a friend with chickens. Her rooster, who is in otherwise good health, stumbles around trying to get one leg to co-ordinate with the other leg. She thought it might be that he cannot stand on the narrow roost and was going to try a larger pole. He sits under the chickens at night. He acts like a chicken that has gotten into the corn mash! He eats well, crows, eyes are bright, doing his “duty” with the hens, good looking feathers, just has trouble walking. He doesn’t hold the foot up (as in pain), and walks ok when he gets the leg lined up with the other leg. My daughter thought it may be a mineral deficiency, but the rest of the flock are healthy and laying good eggs with normal shell.
I have 25 RI Red hen and 2 roosters all are healthy and eat and drink well not molting but am only getting 1 or 2 eggs a day now instead of th 15 to 20 i was before what would cause them to stop laying nothing is different
they are 14 months now
Thank You