People ring us and ask what to feed. This is what goes into our own feeders, in the order it happens each day, and where to get the feed now that we no longer stock it.
What's in the feeder
Two Laucke Mills feeds. Showbird Breeder MP, a micro pellet, or Red Hen 17, a crumble. We've used both for years and recommend both.
The reason is the size of the bits. In a micro pellet or a crumble every mouthful is the whole formula. With a coarse mix the girls pick out the grain they like and leave the rest, and the rest is where the protein and the calcium are. A fine feed also flows cleanly through a tube feeder, so less of it ends up on the ground.
Our feeders work best with a quality crumble or micro pellet. If you use a coarse mash or a grain mix, that's the first thing to change.
The day, in order
| When | What we do |
|---|---|
| Morning | Check the feeder is full and the feed is dry. Check the water. Five drops of Mega Mineral per litre go in the drinker, every day, all year. |
| Late afternoon | A small feed of grain, in its own dish or tray, never on the ground. It sits in the crop overnight, which is when a hen builds her egg. Grain isn't left out all day. Left out, it replaces the balanced feed and you end up with a hen full of her favourite grain and short on everything else. |
| Always | Shell grit in its own station, free choice. The girls take what they need. Grit does a job in the gizzard that nothing in the water can. How grit works. |
Where to buy it
We stocked Showbird Breeder MP and Red Hen 17 for years, but only for pick-up from Townsville. Most of the country couldn't order it, so we've stopped. Laucke Mills sells through produce stores and rural suppliers across Australia.
Find your nearest Laucke stockist
Ask for Showbird Breeder MP or Red Hen 17. If neither is nearby, any good crumble or micro pellet from a proper mill does the same job. Check the bag says it's a complete layer feed.
Why a complete feed at all? The numbers, the 90% rule and what happens on a grain-mix diet are in The best chicken feed for laying hens. This page is the routine. That one is the reasoning.
What we don't do
- No scratch mix left out all day. It's a treat and a late-afternoon feed, not a diet.
- No scraps as the main meal. A handful is fine. Every scrap eaten is a mouthful of balanced feed not eaten.
- No feed on the ground. Anything spilled or scattered is an invitation to rats, mice and pest birds. Feed goes in the feeder, high and dry.
The gear we use for it
- Dine-A-Chook chicken feeders, for the crumble or micro pellet.
- The ten minerals and vitamins that matter explains what each one in Mega Mineral does.
Questions about feed? Ring us on 1800 103 326, Queensland business hours. We keep chooks too.