Nutrition suggestion for the health and productivity of your chooks.
Grit: Chooks don’t have teeth, yet for best digestion, their food needs to be broken down. Chickens, as with most birds, will seek out grit to ease in digestion. Shell grit is a great option. Shell Grit is good because it not only helps in digestion, but it adds much needed calcium for egg production.
Protein: Protein is needed for both the health and growth of the chicken as well as egg production. Chickens will naturally seek out protein from insects, small lizards, and worms. This isn’t always easy to find so it’s important to find ways to supplement protein especially in young chickens. Protein can be found in many seed varieties as well as healthy scrap from your table. You can also supplement protein with dried insects and mealworm.
Leafy Greens: Leafy Greens are a great source of some essential nutrients. If you’ve ever experienced having chooks escape into your garden, you’ll know that they happily make a buffet at of your cabbage, lettuce, and spinach. Leafy greens provide vitamins such as A & E as well as essential calcium.
Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates provide essential sugars and energy for your chooks. This is best derived through wheat, barley, and oats as the unprocessed grains provide the optimum level of nutrition and are preferred by your chooks. Corn is also a good source, but it’s ultra-high level of carbohydrates, if given to much, can cause health problems and obesity in your chickens. While bread can be a source of carbohydrates, it too, often has more than what the chicken needs and in large amounts can cause impaction.
What to avoid: While chickens are great at dealing with scraps, it’s important to remember that some foods are terrible for the health of our chooks. Avoid dropping in onions or garlic as these can cause digestive discomfort and anemia. Acidic foods and citrus can also cause pain for your chickens. Avocado can cause serious problems for the heart and lungs. Other foods like tomatoes, chocolate, and foods with caffeine can also damage the health of your chooks.
Buying quality feed from Tara Rural Supplies ensures that you have the best possible nutrition for your chickens for the best quality eggs. We stock cracked grains, whole grains, mash, crumbles, and pellets as well as a variety of supplements and products for the health and productivity of your chickens.
Give us a call at (07) 4665 3366 or visit us in store at 46 Day Street, Tara QLD
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