My chickens are primarily egg layers, we don't really eat them. I have bought the layer pellets/crumbles but they don't seem to care for them at all and as I want to get around to growing my own food for them eventually, I'd like to get away from them. They prefer the scratch grains that I give them which is good because I can easily recreate that mixture (I think it's just corn, wheat, and oats) but bad because I know it's not a complete diet for layers.
I know they need calcium in addition to their feed, right now they have oyster shell and in the future I may play with ground up eggshells (once they start laying as they're young now).
They are allowed to forage on a daily basis and will continue to be able to as long as there's not snow on the ground - I may not let them out as much then, especially if the snow's deep.
So what else do I need to add? It'd be a bonus if it's something I can grow myself, double bonus if it's something that can be kept over the winter
I AM planning on growing greens indoors when it gets cold (we have a guest house that is very sunny, humid, and warm - so it's a good greenhouse) and of course they get plenty of greens, bugs, etc when they forage but again, I need to consider winter as well.
I know they need calcium in addition to their feed, right now they have oyster shell and in the future I may play with ground up eggshells (once they start laying as they're young now).
They are allowed to forage on a daily basis and will continue to be able to as long as there's not snow on the ground - I may not let them out as much then, especially if the snow's deep.
So what else do I need to add? It'd be a bonus if it's something I can grow myself, double bonus if it's something that can be kept over the winter
I AM planning on growing greens indoors when it gets cold (we have a guest house that is very sunny, humid, and warm - so it's a good greenhouse) and of course they get plenty of greens, bugs, etc when they forage but again, I need to consider winter as well.