Please enjoy this information excerpted from Getting Laid, by Barb Webb.
Even if your chickens are on a full commercial feed diet, there are still natural ingredients you may wish to consider adding to their feed to help keep your flock in tip-top shape or to address particular health concerns. Use this chart as a handy reference:
Natural Feed Supplements for Chickens |
|
| Brewer’s Yeast | Helpful in preventing lice and mite infestations. Add 1 teaspoon per chicken to daily feed. |
| Comfrey | Helpful with worm prevention. Add a small amount to feed occasionally. |
| Cider Vinegar | Helpful with overall health. Add 1 Tbsp. to water regularly. |
| Cut Mint | Helpful in repelling lice and ticks. Add a small amount to feed occasionally. |
| Dandelions | Helpful with overall health and adding calcium to the diet. Add to feed regularly. |
| Fennel | Helpful with overall health. Add seeds and foliage to feed regularly |
| Flaxseed | Helpful in adding protein to diet and boosting Omega 3’s in eggs. Add a small amount to feed regularly. |
| Garlic | Helpful with overall health and worm prevention. Add a small amount of crushed garlic occasionally to feed or water. |
Get Fowl: Caring for Your Chickens
| Lavender | Helpful in repelling lice. Add dried lavender to dust baths and plant lavender around chicken coops. |
| Marigold | Helpful for skin health. Also brightens egg yolks. Add to feed regularly. |
| Nasturtium | Helpful with de-worming. Add leaves and owers to diet if worms are detected. |
| Rosemary | Helpful in repelling insects. Add to feed on occasion and plant around chicken coop area. |
| Sage | Helpful with overall health. Add to feed regularly. |
| Squash Blossoms | Helpful in adding calcium to the diet. Add fresh blossoms to feed occasionally. |
| Sunflower Seeds | Helpful in adding protein to the diet. Add to feed regularly. |
| Tansy | Helpful with worm prevention. Add a small amount to feed occasionally. |
| Wormwood | Helpful with worm prevention and repelling insects. Add to feed on occasion and plant around the chicken coop area. |
Chick tip: Grow oat sprouts in the winter to supplement your chickens’ needs for fresh greens. Find a recipe for sprouting oats in Chapter 4 (Get Dirty).
How to Avoid Bad Meal Reviews
The most important thing every chef catering to chickens needs to know is that chickens will eat nearly everything! This includes cat and dog food, grapes, and your favorite roses. Chickens are naturally curious, so you do need to be mindful of their surroundings and not place harmful objects in their path.
This book has been reprinted with permission from Getting Laid, by Barb Webb, and published by Viva Editions, 2015.
