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FEEDING TIPS
*Keep your birds in tip top healthy condition. Moistened brown wholemeal bread Hovis, Allinsons etc is a good medium for giving hens tonics, remedies etc. It is quickly eaten up and it is easy to ascertain whether every member of the flock has fed.
Don?t use white sliced bread it can block the crop.
*Crushed garlic and ginger are good tonics that can be added to moist brown bread. Hens apparently have no taste buds, but that doesn?t seem to stop them being very fussy eaters.
*Hens can be fed from a series of plastic flower pot saucers, one for each hen, for speedy feeding. They can be cleared away after each meal.
*Remember to increase feed, if birds used to free ranging have to suddenly be kept under
cover. Hang greenery in the run, so they're not deprived of important nutrients.
*To increase Omega 3 oils in your eggs, feed your flock on de-husked sunflower seeds or flax seeds, from your feed merchant. Good for them and good through the eggs for you
*Change water daily so that it doesn?t become contaminated.
*Watch your birds feed and judge carefully how much they actually eat. Don?t overfeed.
*Vitamins A,D,E & K are considered essential for hens, especially in the post moult period. Make sure your flock has access to short green grass, sunlight and add cod liver oil to their feed - with their bread in the mornings, moistened with hot water, now that it is getting chilly.
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*Clean food containers regularly at an outside tap or in a scullery, with disinfectant and separate washing up utensils.
*Marriages Feeds 01245 612 000 www.marriagefeeds.co.uk
Allen & Page 01362 822 900 www.smallholderfeed.co.uk
The Organic Food Co. 01362 822 903 www.organicfeed.co.uk
*Waitrose are now selling bantam eggs in packs of four for ?1.49!
*Crushed garlic in drinking water can help eliminate parasites, including red mites. Refresh on a daily basis.
*Frozen sweetcorn {defrosted} is a good treat. Sainsbury's are now selling cheap packs in their Basics range, because the kernals are not all the same size! Largish pack for 69p.
*The use of sprouted seeds as poultry food is extolled in this month's Practical Poultry, starting with sprouted quinoa seeds for chicks - highest plant source of protein, to sprouted wheat for adults.
*Life Guard Tonic is a nutritional prebiotic, antioxcidant and vitamin supplement for adding to water for poultry. It helps to promote egg laying, feathering and general health and offers vitamin E and B complex. In trials, we found it effective, if slightly expensive. For further info. 0800373 106.
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