Running out of chicken feed can be stressful, but luckily, there are plenty of alternative options to keep your flock healthy and productive. Whether you have free-range chickens, laying hens, or young chicks, knowing what to feed your chickens when you’re out of chicken feed can make all the difference. Here’s a guide using a variety of alternatives to ensure your chickens receive essential nutrients.
Free Ranging: The Easiest and Best Way to Supplement Feed
If you have a chicken tractor or enough space, free-ranging is the best way to let your chickens find their own food. They’ll forage for insects, seeds, and grasses, which provide essential nutrients that contribute to their overall health and egg production.
- Free-Range Foraging: If your chickens are free-range, they can find their own food in the form of insects, worms, snakes, mice, and seeds. This is a natural way for them to get nutrition.
- Grass Clippings: Fresh, untreated grass clippings can be given to chickens, but avoid clippings from treated lawns.
- Plants: Planting certain types of plants in your yard can provide a nutritious and natural food source for your chickens, supporting their health and well-being. Consider planting cover crops like clover or alfalfa for additional nutrition.
Kitchen Scraps
Kitchen scraps are a great way to supplement your chickens’ diet, especially when you’re out of commercial chicken feed. Many household leftovers can be offered to your backyard chickens, including vegetables, fruit peels, and grains. However, avoid feeding them foods like onions, garlic, or anything too salty or greasy. Check out this exhaustive list of what you cannot feed your chickens.
- Vegetable and Fruit Scraps: Carrot tops, celery, cucumber peels, squash, apples, berries, and melon rinds are all excellent options.
- Cooked Rice and Pasta: These provide a good source of carbohydrates but should be given in moderation.
- Cooked Eggs: Scrambled or boiled eggs are rich in protein and can be a nutritious treat. Just ensure you scramble the eggs in a pan without adding any seasonings, butter, or oil.
- Bread: In small amounts, bread can be fed to chickens but avoid moldy bread.
- Cooked Meat Scraps: Small amounts of cooked chicken, beef, or fish can provide essential protein.
- Yogurt: Plain yogurt is a good source of probiotics and calcium, helping with digestion and overall health.
- Cheese: In small amounts, cheese can be fed to chickens as an occasional treat.
Grocery Stores and Farmer’s Markets
If you’re in a pinch, check with local grocery stores or farmer’s markets for produce that they might be discarding. Often, these places have perfectly good food that can’t be sold for human consumption but is ideal for chickens.
- Overripe or Extra Produce: Cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and pumpkins are good options. Look for fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens that can offer a varied diet to your chickens.
- Local Restaurants: They might offer kitchen scraps or food to be discarded for your backyard flock.
Scratch Grains
If you’re out of layer feed or grower feed, scratch grains or corn can be a quick and nutritious option. These grains not only satisfy your chickens’ hunger but also provide them with the energy needed for egg production and daily activities. A few weeks ago, when I ran out of layer feed, I was thankful I had a bat of scratch grains on hand. I sprinkled the grains around the chicken run for them to eat while I ran and got more feed.
- Oats: Rolled oats or whole oats are a great source of energy and fiber.
- Corn: Cracked or whole corn is a high-energy food that chickens love.
- Barley: Barley can be fed in whole or rolled form, providing good nutrition.
Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds can be a nutritious alternative to help keep your chickens healthy and satisfied until you can replenish their regular diet.
- Pumpkin Seeds: These are nutritious and can also help with internal parasites.
- Chia Seeds: A small amount of chia seeds can provide omega-3 fatty acids.
- Sunflower Seeds: These are rich in fat and protein and make a great snack for chickens.
- Almonds: Almonds are high in protein and fat but should be fed in small quantities. They should be unsalted and can be chopped or crushed to make them easier for chickens to eat.
- Peanuts: Peanuts are another high-protein option. Make sure they are unsalted and free from any additives. You can offer them whole, crushed, or chopped.
Compost Pile
A compost pile is an excellent source of food and a great foraging opportunity for free-range chickens. They can scratch through the pile to find worms, insects, and decomposing organic matter, which provide protein and other nutrients.
- Maggot Bucket: Consider putting out a maggot bucket to provide a continuous protein boost for your chickens, especially during winter months. Here is a list of all the bugs chickens can eat.
- Mealworms: Dried or live mealworms are a high-protein treat that chickens love.
Oyster Shells and Egg Shells
For laying hens, calcium is crucial for producing strong eggshells. If you’re out of commercial feed that includes added calcium, you can offer crushed oyster shells or recycled eggshells. These provide the extra calcium needed for healthy egg production. Sprinkle crushed eggshells or oyster shells in the chicken run for easy access.
Flock Block
I love to make this for my chickens in the winter, but when you run out of regular chicken feed, offering your flock a Flock Block can be a useful temporary solution. A Flock Block is a large, solid block of feed packed with grains, seeds, and other nutrients, designed to provide chickens with supplemental nutrition and entertainment.
Flock Block can last several days to weeks, depending on the size of your flock and how much they eat. This makes it a good option for short-term feeding until you can replenish your regular feed supply. Here is a recipe to make your flock block at home. Just substitute the layer feed for another option that you have on hand.
Wild Birds and Meat Chickens
If you keep wild birds or meat chickens, you can use some of their feed as a temporary substitute for your backyard flock. However, it’s essential to monitor their protein and amino acid intake to avoid any deficiencies.
Young Chicks: Age-Specific Needs
For baby chicks, chick starter is usually the best feed option, but if you run out, you can supplement with finely ground oats or hard-boiled eggs to provide protein and essential vitamins. It is important that you provide chick grit if you feed your baby chicks anything other than chick starter.
Important Considerations
The first thing to remember is that while alternative feeds can be useful, they should not completely replace a high-quality commercial feed. A complete feed provides a balanced diet with all the essential nutrients, protein, and vitamins necessary for your chickens’ health.
- Moderation: While these alternatives can help in a pinch, they should not replace a balanced chicken feed for long periods. They are best used as temporary solutions.
- Avoid Toxic Foods: Do not feed chickens raw potatoes, avocado, chocolate, coffee grounds, or anything moldy or spoiled. These can be harmful or even deadly to chickens.
- Fresh Water: Always ensure your chickens have access to fresh, clean water, especially when feeding them a varied diet.
- Grit: If you feed your chickens anything other than chicken feed, make sure they have access to grit to aid in their digestion.
- Free Ranging: Letting chickens forage on their own is a great way to supplement their diet but should be paired with a regular feed.
- Balanced Diet: Offering a mix of protein, grains, and greens is the best way to ensure your chickens are healthy and productive.
Bottom Line
Running out of commercial chicken feed doesn’t have to mean a crisis. By using kitchen scraps, scratch grains, and letting your chickens free-range, you can maintain their health and productivity. Remember to keep an eye on their nutritional needs, especially during critical times like egg production or when caring for young chicks. And, whenever possible, replenish your feed supply from your local feed store to ensure your backyard flock continues to thrive.
Whether you’re feeding table scraps from your compost bin or letting your chickens forage in a chicken tractor, the goal is to keep your flock healthy, happy, and laying nutritious eggs for human consumption. By providing a varied diet and ensuring proper nutrition, you can successfully manage your backyard chickens even when you’re out of regular feed.
What questions do you have? Let me know in the comments!
Related Posts:
How Long Can Chickens Go Without Food?
What Not to Feed Chickens
What do Chickens Eat?
What Bugs Do Chickens Eat?
What is Chicken Grit?
Make Your Own Flock Block
Growing Fodder for Chickens
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