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Related Articles & Questions
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Backyard Chicken Care: Essential Guide for Happy, Healthy Hens
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- Health & Wellbeing
What are the main healthiest foods for the hens and rooster
Choose a commercial pelleted diet labeled as "all flock" or "flock raiser". This is a complete diet for most chickens. For the hen, you will need to supplement calcium, especially if she is a layer. You can offer her crushed oyster shells freely. Do not use a layer diet for both. The calcium levels would be too high for the rooster leading to potential health issues for him. The website www.backyardchickens.com is an excellent resource for information regarding the husbandry and feeding of domestic chickens.
Updated on August 12th, 2025
- Health & Wellbeing
What are the main healthiest foods for roosters,hens and laying hens????
A commercially prepared laying formula (pellet or crumble) that is 16-18% protein is the best nutritional diet for hens that are laying or of laying age, as well as roosters. If a commercially available diet is not available, you can put together a decent ration with these grains and dried vegetables: cracked corn, lentils, split peas and whole or rolled oats. The homemade ration may be better suited for free-range chickens that can also eat live plants and bugs to supplement their diet. I do not recommend a commercial diet that contains any medications (such as a Coccidiostat) for hens that are laying as people should not be ingesting this in the eggs that are laid.
Updated on August 12th, 2025
- Health & Wellbeing
Hey I have a chicken but and I also have a coop but my chickens hate going in their coop I put it on top of my roof cause they like to stay on the roof but they seem to ignore the coop they are cage free chickens
If your chickens do not go into the coop you will need to catch them in the evening and put them in the coop and close the coop. This will be protection as chickens can easily be attacked and killed by raccoons and opossums and raptors. If you cannot do this on the roof, you will need to build a small enclosure, put the coop inside and lock the chickens up in the enclosure. Again, if they do not go into the coop at night, you will need to put them into the coop overnight. If you do this often enough they will eventually go in by themselves and you can let them free range again.
Updated on August 12th, 2025
- Health & Wellbeing
My neighbor is giving his rooster and hen a boiled potato and a whole wheat grain.I asked him about it and he says it is its best nutrition.Is is correct to give potato and whole grain to rooster and Hen??????
These foods can be fed to poultry but they may not include all the nutrients necessary for optimum health. It is good that the potato is cooked because a raw potato can cause health issues for chickens. Depending on the type of whole grain offered they may not be getting enough protein. Usually chickens are fed a grain mixture, called scratch grains with a pellet or crumble made for the age of the bird. For example, we feed a growing ratio when developing when chickens are young or a laying ratio when the hens are old enough to lay eggs.
Updated on August 12th, 2025
- Health & Wellbeing
What are some things I can and can't feed a rooster/chicken. I am getting a lot of mixed answers during my research.
They can eat chicken feed, cracked corn, oats, groats, greens, oyster shells (crushed), mealworms, nightcrawlers, crickets, berries and carrots just to list a few items. This is by no means an all inclusive list. You can find more acceptable foods at www.backyardchickens.com.
Updated on August 12th, 2025
