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There is definitely something very wholesome about having your own flock of chickens, feeding and caring for them and then having them provide you with fresh eggs.

This article is about the nutritional requirements of poultry and will give you an idea as how having healthy chickens can benefit you as well as the chickens.

Energy is needed for body maintenance, growth and egg production. Carbohydrates and/or fats are energy sources that are found in cereal grains (for example, wheat, maize and sorghum), and full-fat soybean meal.

Protein is needed for the replacement of body cells, growth (including feathers), and egg production. Meat, soybean meal, peas, lupins and skim milk powder are good sources of protein.

Vitamins, minerals and trace elements for health: only small amounts are needed.

Apart from their main nutrient requirements, poultry also need access to clean, fresh water and plenty of it. Water should always be available and should be cool, clean and not salty. Each chicken needs a cup or two (half a liter) of fresh water daily. If deprived of water they will stop 'laying'.

When you give your chickens food scraps from the kitchen make sure it hasn't become rotten or the chickens could get very ill and may even die. Never feed tea leaves, coffee grounds, rhubarb leaves, soap, salt or salted products.

Vegetable peelings are not as nutritious, but can provide green feed, especially at times when you do not have any green grass. Most need to be cooked except leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce and cabbage. Hens love all kinds of seeds such as capsicum and tomato.

Chickens are small birds and a relatively small amount of poison could kill them so unless you use organic produce make sure you always wash your fruit and vegetables before you or your hens eat them.

Grit and calcium for egg production can be had in the form of limestone grit, finely ground oyster shell (shell grit) or roasted, crushed eggshells. The eggshells must be crushed so that the hens do not learn to recognize eggs as food, if this happens they could eat their own eggs.

Laying hens need lots of calcium for shell building otherwise their eggs will be thin and crack easily. Shell grit provides calcium for the hens and should be fed once a week to hens not fed on pellets as calcium is included in commercially prepared feeds.

Laying hens need lots of calcium for shell building otherwise their eggs will be thin and crack easily. Shell grit provides calcium for the hens and should be fed once a week to hens not fed on pellets as calcium is included in commercially prepared feeds.

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