5 Things To Look For Before You Buy Chicken Feed Supplements

If you are searching for the right chicken feed supplements for your flocks, then you’re at the right place. Fly Grubs is here to help you pick the best diet for your chickens. 

Like every other chicken keeper, you also want to provide the best possible diet to your flock to ensure good health and egg production. Today, chicken feed and supplement manufacturing companies put in a lot of effort, time, and a great deal of research into feeding poultry precisely. 

But how do you decide which one among the various chicken feed supplements, varying in ingredients and prices available in the market, is the best for your chickens?  

Well, you don’t have to ponder upon it anymore. Fly Grubs, a leading chicken feed supplements brand, is here to help you step out of this confusion by answering how to add protein to chicken feed?

1. Your Chicken Health

Providing your chickens with good nutrition will reflect on their health and production. Hence, choosing the right supplement for your flock is crucial, considering various factors, such as whether you are raising chicken for meat or eggs? Their age and environmental conditions and many more such things. 

For chickens, there are six essential nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fats, appropriate vitamins, minerals, and water. If the chickens are deprived of any of these, it will affect their health.

Almost all starter and grower chicken feed supplements have 18% to 20% protein. This formulation of chicken feed protein supplements is for the growth and development of their bones, muscles, immunity, and internal organs. The amount of protein in their diet is significant; it helps produce feathers, meat, eggs and ensures rapid growth.

Your Chicken Health

2. Your Budget

It is essential to consider your budget while purchasing the best chicken feed supplements. Spending hundreds of dollars on commercial or organic feeds every month is not always necessary. There are several other cost-effective options to provide your chickens with a regular healthy diet. 

Many people prefer to grow their own organic feed in their backyards, which costs them way less. Another option is to make a home ration mixed meal. Although it may lack a few nutrients, it is easy to prepare a meal out of the ingredients available at home. 

However, if you’re not on a tight budget and can provide your chickens with the best available feed, you should go for commercial chicken feed supplements for healthy growth and quality egg production.

3. Organic Vs. Non-Organic

Organic chicken feed and supplements are produced through natural farming processes without using any foreign substances. It is certified for being free of additives such as hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, fertilisers, GMOs, or other ‘foreign’ substances. Moreover, it contains an extra amount of protein to help your chicks’ muscle building and healthy growth. In contrast, the non-organic feed has less than 70% organic elements, and chemical synthesis boosts their growth factor.

Organic chicken feed and supplements are considerably more expensive than regular commercial feed due to the supply limitations, picking and processing labor requirements, as well as government certifications. Conversely, non-organic chicken feed supplements are much more affordable and easily available in almost every local store. 

Now that you are aware of the pros and cons of both organic and non-organic chicken feed, you can decide which one is the best suitable for your flock.

4. Home Mixed Rations

Many people also prefer preparing their own chicken feed at home. Although it may cost a tad more than usual and lack a few nutrients, it is considered safe and healthy. If you’re wondering how to make healthy chicken feed at home, you must make sure to mix all the required carbs, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins. 

A few significant benefits of home mixed rations are:

  • Flexible ingredients - you can adjust the recipe based on available ingredients.
  • You are able to provide the most natural and safe diet possible to your chicks.
  • You know what your flock is consuming and can control it accordingly. 

However, here are some challenges you might face with home-mixed rations:

  • They tend to lack the necessary minerals needed for a healthy diet
  • Buying ingredients separately can cost you more than usual
  • If your chickens are picky, they might eat only certain grains and waste feed
  • Mixing feed can be a time-consuming ordeal
  • You might not find all the ingredients based on your location

5. Feeding Concerns

Feeding methods vary among chicken keepers, but it’s standard to provide quality food based on a chicken’s age and purpose. For newly hatched chicks, provide them with starter feed, also known as mash or crumble. It is specially created to meet their protein needs and provide a balanced diet, small enough for the young chicks to pick up and swallow easily. 

When a chicken is four weeks old, it qualifies as a pullet. Now, how you feed your pullet will determine whether it’s destined to be a layer or a meat bird. If your pullet grows to provide you with eggs, you can switch it from chick starter to commercial laying pellets once at four weeks of age. It’s best to feed them pellets once they have outgrown chick starter. This updated feed will help prepare their bodies for the strenuous job of laying eggs.

As your chicks reach the age of 7 to 9 weeks, you must switch to a broiler finisher diet. Keep in mind that while switching your chickens’ feed, you should do it gradually. If you switch suddenly, you will end up upsetting its digestive systems. You can start by making a quarter meal with the new food, then feed new food as half of what you provide daily. Maintain this for the next 4 to 5 days and then start feeding them an entire meal of the new food.

By six months, the chickens are considered fully grown, and hens will start laying around this time. To provide them nutrients necessary to produce eggs, you must feed them with a portion of layer pellets every day.

Additional Points to Consider

A few additional points to keep in mind with regards to quality, quantity, storage, and giving chicken feed supplements are as follows:

  1. It is essential to provide your chickens with 18% to 21% protein for healthy growth.
  2. Instead of putting the pellets in a bowl, toss them into the coop, so the chickens have to search for them on the ground.
  3. It is an excellent practice to provide your chickens with snacks in a way that prompts them to work for their food.
  4. In order to keep your chickens’ food fresh and free from pests, store it in an area that is dry and cool.
  5. Only purchase feed that your chickens can consume within a month. Storing it for a longer duration can eliminate its nutritional qualities. 
  6. Feed only ½ cup of meal to an adult chicken per day. An inadequate amount of feed can affect their digestive system and decrease their laying.

Looking for Feed?

You can find the best suitable chicken feed supplements at Fly Grubs. We provide FDA-approved, high-protein treats that are sustainable and support your chickens’ immune system. We offer the highest quality BSFL available in the US at affordable prices. It doesn’t end here! Fly Grubs also provides environment-friendly resealable packaging.

We focus on serving just the best and are always willing to help and answer your questions. You may reach out to us by email or through our website contact page.

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