She's a chicken farmer and also a herbalist and it's this combination that really excites me! She grows and uses herbs for a wide variety of things - to encourage egg laying, to discourage parasites, to freshen the coop, keep flies away and improve the nutrition and general health of the flock.
I don't have a big stash of dried herbs at the moment, although I do grow quite a variety. But this is definitely on my list for this year. Grwo more, dry more!
One thing I have done though is mix up a feed based on what she calls the "Breakfast of Champion Layers!"
While it certainly adds to the cost of the feed, it feels so wonderful to be offering this to my merry band of ten hens. And it will improve the quality of the eggs for sure.
Here's what I mixed up yesterday:
To a big bag of 16% Organic Layer Mash, I added:
- Hulled sunflower seeds (Purchased in the wild bird feed department)
- Organic whole oats
- Cracked corn
- Flax seed
- Food grade Diatamaceous Earth (personally I would never feed this to mammals but the hens can handle it)
- Brewer's yeast
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Quite a variety of eggs! |
Oh cool! I am going to share this with my friend who has hens.
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity. . .why would you never feed Diatamaceous Earth? I have never fed it either, but people who do rave about it. I don't know much about it at all.
Hi Allison, I know lots of people that feed Food Grade DE but I just don't feel comfortable with it myself. I don't think there is scientific proof that it works to rid the body of intestinal parasites, so I'd rather do fecal floats and deworm accordingly. The hens eat grit and oyster shell though so I feel they can handle it - just my opinion.
DeleteThank you. I am unconvinced about it, from the bit that I know about it.
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