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Raising Chickens Eggs
Raising free range chickens will give you the best eggs in the nest and baby chickens hatching too! Properly Feeding Chickens is crucial if you are going to be raising chickens either as pets or you are raising chickens eggs as part of your families diet.
Without proper chicken feed, they won’t lay eggs, and getting eggs is generally the whole point of having a chicken flock. When raising free range chickens, there are a lot of things you can do to improve their laying and health. If your birds are allowed to run around your yard and property, you are raising free range chickens. They aren’t cooped up all day, and this is better for their health as they are able to get grass, weeds, bugs and small bits of grit, among other things.
Raising free range chickens is considered the ideal in that you will have excellent deep orange eggs with much better nutritional content than factory fed chickens on poultry feed. Baby chickens need a special chicken feed called a chick starter mash. If you have not made it to the feed store in the first days you can feed mashed hard boiled egg and soft oatmeal in the beginning. Give them a very small bowl of sand for grit and do not forget the water. Baby chickens will throw themselves in the water bowl and drown in the first week of life, so add marbles to the bowl.  Chickens have specific dietary needs depending on if you are raising free range chickens, pastured ones, or completely dependent chickens enclosed in a hen house and pen enclosure. Chickens require four basic things if you are raising free range chickens, and three additional items if they are enclosed in a predator proof immobile Chicken Coop and run. You can choose to make feeding chickens as simple as buying a prepared poultry feed or you can mix endless varieties of grains, grits, seaweeds and supplements to your hearts desire. 1. Chicken feed comes in a sack matching the kind of chickens you are feeding. There are chick starters, grower and layer feeds, broiler feed for meat chickens and so on. Make sure you are using a high protein (18-20%) layer ration if you expect your hens to be able to lay eggs for you. 2. Add grains on the side. Get whatever is cheapest in your area as this is not the hens only diet. Cracked corn is usually available. 3. Greens. Lots of them. Feed your chickens grass clippings, weeds, vegetable scraps, leftover eggs (and their shells!), anything off your table or garden and keep it coming. This is essential to the chicken flock that is Raising Chickens eggs for you or that are not free range chickens due to a chicken predator problem. 4. Protein Sources. Bugs, slugs, worms, softened soybeans and eggs are great. Yes, even meat, milk and seafood like cheap tuna is all wonderful for the chicken flock that is producing either eggs or Baby Chickens for you. At a minimum you need to provide a 20% protein commercial feed. Additional Chicken Supplies you will need to provide is a calcium supplement for them such as oyster shell or ground bone. You will also need to provide them with grit to help with digestion. Chickens need some salt, and the very best source of this will be dried sea kelp. Grab one off a beach if you can, take it home and lay it out to dry. Offer this to your hens for fabulous amounts of minerals. Do not, however, avoid keeping chickens if you can't get kelp, it is just icing on the nutritional cake. Always keep an eye on your chicken feed. It needs to be kept dry and sealed so no insects or rodents can get into it. Some people use large clean trash cans with snap-on lids to keep their chicken feed in. Watering is essential. You must keep fresh water available to your chickens at all times. If they get dehydrated, they will become stressed and their egg production will drop off. Adults need at least a cup of water a day, preferably two, and keeping extra available is good husbandry, especially in the summer months. You should check their water bowls twice a day, minimum. Once in the morning and once in the evening is good. Chickens have a tendency to throw things in their water when they are scratching, so even if they have water, they may have made is so dirty that they should not drink it. Once you get set up, feeding chickens really isn’t difficult. Keeping chickens does require some effort, but no more than any other pet. You will be thrilled with the results and the fun you will have when you have properly cared for your chickens. They are pretty and amusing little pets with lots of personality, and they serve breakfast up too! Raising Free Range Chickens to Frugal Living Raising Free Range Chickens to Raising Chickens Raising Free Range Chickens to Family Security through Frugal Living
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