What to Feed Layer Hens Through Each Life Stage
Are you new to raising chickens for eggs? With so many brands of poultry feed and formulas, making a decision on what to feed your flock and when can be daunting. Here are a few tips to help you get started through every life stage – from chicks to 8 week old pullets to full-grown laying hens.
Choosing a poultry feed brand for your hens
It’s important to choose a brand that offers products specifically formulated to the life stage of your chickens. The various formulations of feed contain different amounts of nutrients critical for your chickens’ specific growth stage. Protein and calcium are the two that you should pay the most attention to.
Home Fresh® is a great choice because it features premium-quality ingredients with research-proven formulations for each life stage. Every one of our Home Fresh chicken feed products provides a consistent, complete and balanced, easy-to-feed diet for healthy chickens.
Chicken nutrition requirements: chicks vs. hens
Chicks need higher protein levels than older hens because their growth rate is so rapid and their bones are still forming. Feeding chicks a formula with too much calcium can lead to kidney issues later in life.
On the other hand, feeding older hens a feed too high in protein can result in weight gain and interfere with their egg production. Older hens that are laying eggs need higher calcium levels to ensure that they lay eggs with nice hard eggshells.
For both chicks and hens, make sure your feed provides gut health and immune system support. Our feeds provide FlockWise® Protection, meaning that they contain a signature blend of prebiotics, enzymes and antioxidants to help keep them well.
Download Our Suggested Feeding Program
Choosing a feed for chicks (0-8 weeks)
Chicks should be fed a chick starter feed from hatch to laying. We offer several formulations for this stage of life — each of which offers protein levels between 20-23% with calcium levels less than 1.5%. Our options include:
- Home Fresh Chick Starter Medicated chick feed is a complete and balanced chick feed medicated with amprolium to prevent the onset of coccidiosis.
- Home Fresh Chick Starter is a non-medicated feed for chicks that have been vaccinated at the hatchery.
- Home Fresh Multi-Flock Chick Starter Grower is a non-medicated feed to meet nutritional needs for your entire flock, including chicks, ducks and geese, broilers, etc.
- Home Fresh Organic Starter feed is an organic, complete and balanced feed made with non-GMO ingredients and Certified Organic.
Choosing a feed for pullets (8-20 weeks)
After the first eight weeks, growth slows and some poultry owners choose to transition chicks to a grower feed. However, depending on the feed being used, chicks may also remain on their starter feed until just before they begin laying (typically 18 to 20 weeks of age). Either approach can support healthy development when birds are fed a complete, balanced ration. For grower feeds, consider:
- Home Fresh Grow & Show is a complete and balanced 15% protein diet designed for growing replacement chickens (pullets).
Choosing a feed for laying hens (20+ weeks)
Once your hens are preparing to lay, ideally a few weeks before their first egg, it's time to transition them to a layer feed. Layer feeds contain higher levels of calcium, helping hens build the calcium reserves needed to produce strong, healthy eggshells. As with starter and grower feeds, both organic and non-organic layer feed options are available.
- Home Fresh Extra Egg Layer is available in a crumble or pellet form with 17% protein with guaranteed levels of calcium to help hens consistently produce eggs. It’s also made with Yolk Rich™ Technology to deliver deep, rich colored yolks and antioxidant properties.
- Home Fresh Organic Layeris a pelleted form made with non-GMO and ingredients and Certified Organic.
- Home Fresh Extra Egg Layer + Omega helps deliver FOUR times the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in your eggs.
- Home Fresh Extra Egg Layer Free Range is a 20% high protein pellet to support egg production for active flocks in a free range environment.
What to feed mixed-age flocks
If you have a mixed flock of older laying hens and younger pullets not yet laying, grower feed can be offered to all, with supplemental calcium provided free choice for the laying hens so they get the additional calcium they need, until the youngest flock members are 18-20 weeks old and about ready to start laying. Then you can go back to an egg laying chicken feed.
Where to buy layer feeds
We hope you found this information on poultry feed useful. Home Fresh products are available at your local KENT retailer or fleet store. Click here to find your local retailer.
