Things are different today. Not only do we have a far better understanding of the importance of diet and environment in promoting good animal health, the backyard poultry keeper has a wide range of affordable proprietary feeds available to them — pre-mixed mashes, crumbles and pelleted feeds, most containing the added vitamins and minerals needed to keep a chook well fed and healthy. And of course we still have the all important grains, including the ever dependable wheat.
Mash is basically whole grains crushed and chopped up small. Pellets are mash in a compressed ‘tablet’ form. Pellets are convenient for you but the birds eat them very quickly, which is undesirable for a number of reasons, and they can take a while to digest.
Mash is more flexible. You can feed it dry or mix it with water, milk or boiled up house scraps. It takes longer for the hens to eat so has a certain entertainment value. That extra time also comes a little closer to the bird’s natural feeding behaviour, which can help avoid cannibalism in your flock.
Most of these ‘ready-to-eat’ feeds are very good, although some are better than others. It’s generally a case of you get what you pay for. For those concerned about the feeds which add hormones to the mix, or are produced using chemically sprayed crops there are organic and ‘natural’ feeds available with few or no additives. But don’t be too concerned about added protein or vitamins and minerals such as sodium and phosphorous. Most backyard flocks need these ‘extras’ to stay healthy.
If you opt to feed a proprietary mix as your sole food source the first thing to decide is just how you are going to serve dinner. Providing you have a vermin- and bird-proof house and run, a hopper is the easiest way to provide a permanent, on-demand supply of dry food.
There are various types of hoppers and ad lib feeders available. The best let the food flow readily into the feed tray without it overflowing onto the floor. But remember, if your fowls are allowed out of their house during the day you have to be able to close off the feeder hopper to prevent birds, mice and other pests pigging out while the doors are open. Shutting the doors would mean the hens can’t get access to their nests to lay, and they’ll relish any excuse to lay away.
To foil these opportunistic pests there are feeder designs that stay closed until triggered by a fowl’s weight on a platform, which raises the lid to allow access to the food.
Whatever design of feeder you choose make sure the chooks can’t perch on top of or above it. Not only will they foul the feed tray but you will have to clean the lid of chook poo every time you need to fill it. A steeply sloping cover solves the problem.