What's in the Feed Bag (And Why It Matters)
So you got chickens. Maybe you brought home a box of peeping fluffballs from the farm over the summer. Maybe a neighbor had too many hens and you said sure, we've got the space. Either way—you've got birds, and now you're staring at a wall of feed bags wondering which one to grab.
It's simpler than it looks. You just match the feed to where your bird is in life.
Starting with chicks:
Baby chicks need starter feed right away—18 to 20% protein. That's high, and it needs to be. They're building bones, feathers, organs, everything from almost nothing. Keep them on starter until about half of the chicks are laying eggs. After that, switch to layer feed, which runs 16% protein. They're past the foundation stage and filling out once they start laying - you can mix 50/50 until you count that the majority of the young hens are laying. The transition matters because that protein level is doing the real work behind the scenes.
Starting with adult hens:
If your birds are already laying, layer feed is what they need. Sixteen percent protein, designed to keep feathers healthy and egg production steady. That's the easy road—one feed, just keep the feeder full.
Either way, keep these on hand:
Oyster shell gives hens extra calcium for stronger eggshells—just set out a dish and let them take what they need. Grit helps with digestion, because chickens don't have teeth. Grit does the chewing for them. Both are affordable and last a long time.
Now—treats. Scratch grains, mealworms, kitchen scraps, a watermelon rind on a hot afternoon. Your birds will lose their minds over it. But treats are dessert, not dinner. A small handful tossed in the run once a day is plenty. Too many and they'll fill up on the fun stuff and skip the feed that's actually keeping them going.
One more thing worth knowing: you'll see options for organic, non-GMO, medicated, and non-medicated feeds. Medicated starter has a coccidiostat that helps prevent a common intestinal illness in young chicks—it's worth considering if your birds aren't vaccinated. Non-GMO and organic are personal choices, and good ones are more available now than they used to be. If you are eating organically grown foods, it is a compliment to feed your flock non-GMO or organic options to reflect your own preferences.
If all of this feels like a lot, that's actually why programs like ours exist. We send our rental hens home with the right feed already in the bag—and for our hatching families, we walk them through every stage so nobody's guessing. But whether your birds came from us or a farm down the road, the feeding basics are the same. Good feed, clean water, a little oyster shell on the side, and don't go overboard on the mealworms.
That's the news from the farm, where all the people are strong, all the plants grow tall, and all the children pull weeds.
