Do you want to produce better quality eggs from your chickens? One of the best ways to do this is by feeding them the most nutritious, balanced and high-quality chicken feed that your laying hens are going to absolutely love tucking into it!
As chicken owners, it’s important for us to know what we’re feeding our feathered friends. Sadly, there are far too many chicken owners that are not aware of this. Or, at the very least, they don’t know how to research the type of food that they should be giving their chickens. This is why we have put together this list of the best chicken feed that you can buy.
Top 5 Most Nutritious and Balanced Chicken Feed
Top Pick: Scratch and Pecks Chicken Feed 16% Protein
This chicken feed is 100% corn and soy-free. Now, the soy being removed does increase the price a little bit. We don’t know whether you know this, but the bulk of cheaper chicken feeds on the market are made with soy as the main protein.
This keeps the cost down, but chickens tend not to thrive when they have a soy-heavy diet. The meat never tastes as good, and they end up producing lower-quality eggs. If the main reason that you want your chickens is for food production, then avoid soy.
The removal of corn doesn’t benefit the chickens. It benefits you. No corn means that anybody with a gluten-allergy doesn’t run the risk of them getting some of the corn allergens in their food. Again, this means that you are going to end up with better meat and eggs.
Manna Pro 7-Grain Ultimate Chicken Scratch
Next up with the 7-grain chicken scratch from Manna Pro. Their chicken scratch only includes grains. 7 of them, as you may have guessed. This includes:
- Corn
- Wheat
- Milo
- Barely
- Oats
- Sunflower Seeds
- Millet
Now, the cool little thing about this chicken scratch is that the corn is purple. This is meant to encourage the chickens to come and eat from it. Having seen this chicken scratch in action, we know that as soon as it is thrown down, all of those chickens are going to be clambering for it!
Since there is nothing artificial loaded into these delicious treats for your chickens, you just know that there is going to be absolutely no adverse reaction when they are munching down on them.
There is a ton of nutrition packed into all of these seeds. The fact that there is a variety of seeds also helps to ensure that your chickens end up getting a broad range of nutrients from their food. Obviously, this is something that is only ever going to be good for the chickens, right?
Manna Pro 6 Grain and Flaxseed Scratch
As you will likely notice, the bulk of the chicken feed that is included on this page will come from Manna Pro. This is because we have yet to find another company that offers such an extensive array of products that are of a consistently high quality.
Take this one, for example, you have 6 grains coupled with some flaxseeds. Pair this with some pellets from the same company and you have a complete for your chickens.
The purpose of this chicken scratch is to encourage the natural foraging ability of chickens. It does a surprising job at that too. Scatter this around the coop or in their run, and they are going to love pecking at it.
The best part is that everything in here is going to be beneficial to the chicken in some way. This means that you do not have to worry about them taking in food that they should not be eating, which is a problem with other comparable chicken feeds.
All in all, this is something that is going to be an absolute ‘must buy’ for us.
Manna Pro Organic Pellets
Remember when we just said that the scratch would combine well with some proper chicken pellets? Well, these are the chicken pellets that we meant. And yes, you guessed it, they are also going to come from the fantastic people over there at Manna Pro.
While these chicken pellets can be used by pretty much any chicken in your flock, they have been specially formulated to provide laying hens with all of the nutrients that they need to grow some eggs. This is because they are absolutely packed to the brim with protein.
However, there are going to be no additives here that could be dangerous towards your chicken or hamper their ability to produce eggs. By all accounts, they are rather tasty too. However, we can tell you that we haven’t eaten them ourselves. Our chickens just love to gobble them up, though!
These pellets have been designed to be easy for your hens to eat. The smaller pellet form means that you have to worry less about there being any waste when you give these to your chickens, and we know how bad some waste can be at the best of the time. Nobody wants to be attracting pests, right?
Purina Layena
There is a natural coloring agent added to the Purina Layena. However, don’t worry. It is not going to harm your chickens in any way. In fact, it is actually going to be incredibly beneficial to them. You see, the coloring agent helps to add a dash of color to the egg yolks. So, when you feed your chickens the Purina Layena, you can expect them to have better eggs. Although, don’t worry.
This chicken feed isn’t just about keeping the laying hens happy. It is going to be beneficial to any other chicken inside of your coop.
There are so many nutrients and minerals packed into the Purina Layena that it is tough for us to know what to talk about. So, we are just going to flat-out tell you that absolutely every single nutrient that your hens need will be packed into this chicken feed.
This even includes calcium from oyster shells. We have yet to find a chicken that hasn’t benefitted from the Purina Layena. Combine this with one of the chicken scratches on this list, and you have a match made in heaven.
Can You Prepare Your Own Chicken Feed?
The base of any chicken’s diet will need to be pellets. Again, you could probably formulate something close to pellets yourself, but it isn’t worth the time or hassle. If you try to give chickens a balanced diet on your own, then they are probably going to be lacking somewhere.
Let somebody else do the hard work for you and make sure that you purchase the best that you can afford.
Chickens should always have access to pellets. There isn’t a set quantity that you should be giving them. You need to have pellets constantly available. This way they can munch on them whenever they wish.
This is absolutely vital if you are growing chickens with the intention of getting eggs. The only way in which a chicken is going to lay a quality egg, on a regular basis, is if they have constant access to high-quality chicken feed and their stomach is full.
Basically, don’t skimp on this. Your chickens will be eating at least a quarter of a pound of pellets each day. So, you are going to be getting through a lot of them. Trust us on that.
Related: You might want to check the best chicken egg incubators (with a very affordable price) that we have reviewed recently.
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