Just like us, chickens need different food during the winter, specially if you want to keep them laying eggs! As you know, chickens need protein to make eggs but during the winter they’ll also need more carbohydrates to star warm. Feeding them properly will help them not only survive, but thrive during the cold months. Here are the best winter foods for chickens.
Bugs
Very few things are more delicious to chickens than some good bugs. They’re filled with protein and highly nutritious. Live food is quite rare to find naturally during the winter, so you can always just purchase dried mealworms like these ones.
However an amazing way to get free bugs is with a bug board! Just grab any large piece of wood or any other flat surface and leave it on top of the grass for a few days. This will attract bugs that’ll crawl underneath for shelter and warmth. After a few days remove the board to put it elsewhere and let your chickens feast on live food!
Eggs
It may sound weird and wasteful to feed chickens their own eggs, specially when they’ll be so few during the winter. However eggs are quite nutritious for your chickens too! Chop some garlic and add some cayenne pepper to the eggs as a natural de-wormer. It’s a great way to keep them healthy during the winter!
Greens
Your chickens will probably not be able to peck away at your garden as much as they do during the summer. Replace them with highly nutritious leafy vegetables such as spinach, microgreens, collard, kale and romaine lettuce.
You can use them to keep them active by hanging a head of cabbage from a string in their coop. You can attach the cabbage to the string with a metal hook or use this very cheap metal treat ball. It’s an easy way to keep them entertained and well fed during the winter!
Kitchen Scraps
We as humans naturally eat more carbs during the winter. That’s what your chickens need! Gather all of your scraps that aren’t heavily salted or sugary and feed them to your chickens. Not only is it free but it’s also good for the environment– and for that little annoying voice that complains when you waste food.
Scratch
Scratch is a perfect winter food for chickens, and they love it! They need to use energy to digest scratch which keeps their body warm. You can easily make your own scratch as well! Make sure to spread it around when feeding them to keep them busy for a while.
Warm treats
Just like you enjoy that hot cup of cocoa to keep warm your chickens will also enjoy warm food during the winter! You can start with warm water using one of these water heaters. Feeding them warm water during the winter will not only keep them warm, it’ll keep the water from freezing. You can also cook them some warm treats like oatmeal with warm water mixed with their pellets. Keep in mind however that treats, specially when low in nutritional value, should only be provided during dinner time. This is to prevent them from getting full before they eat all of their nutrients.
Final reminders
Whatever you feed them, you’ll probably be feeding them more of it. Chickens usually eat about 50% more food during the winter so be generous. Don’t stress too much about feeding them too much, they’ll let you know when they’re full.
Remember to clean up the uneaten scraps at night to avoid attracting rats, a horrible chicken predator.
All the best food in the world won’t matter if your coop isn’t ready for the winter. Check out how to prepare your coop right here.
Finally make sure that they’re dry, specially if they tend to get themselves wet on the drinking water. Frostbite can be the worst thing to a chicken.
What are your favorite winter foods for your chickens? Let us know in the comments below!
I feed the girls left over and extra pancakes made with pumpkin or applesauce as a filler.
Heard you should not give spinach to chickens as it interferes with their absorption of calcium.
Shouldn’t feed warm food. It affects how they regulate heat. Room temp is fine. Also I see raw potatoes as scraps. Nightshades are toxic to chickens so feed sparingly.
nightshades are most loved by chickens and tomato’s really make em lay eggs,spinach would have to be almost their only food to even begin to cause trouble -there is not that much oxalic acid in it. I live near an 800 acre pumpkin patch- most just go to waste my chickens love some microwaved until it is soft but still stringy like spaghetti. I also have trays that i grow oat grass in and every so often they get the trimmings and mealworms are real easy to raise and I do.
rich again, I do let the pumpkin cool – I don’t like scalding foods so why would they. also I soak alfalfa pellets in water, dog food too but just the cheap stuff and i make up a mix of scratch for them with oilseed sunflower,dog food, whole oats, wild bird food (when its on clearance i buy as much as i can),henscratch,and oyster shell
also , did you all just hear Chevel on the Voice, she is flawless, just had to lighten it up.
The Chicken Chick has put the kibosh on oatmeal for chickens as the beta glucan (also of barley) slows down their digestion, that while Filling, Is Not the Nutrition fulfillment they require. Upon looking this up, it’s reported that “exogenous enzymes’ would be required to restore ‘intestinal viscosity”. I have their feed inside the house, (kefir/started) fermenting so is warmer than outside when brought to them. Little buggers want to be released at least an hour before sunrise and that might be the reason they are producing 3-5 eggs a day of 9 hens, 1 of which is my poor picked-on silky(not expecting her to lay until spring). Have neighbor up the block with an apple tree that’s neglected, that am permitted to remove the fruit, ground and still on the tree. Treats get put out later, most of the time. Pad heater for 1 coop, hanging SH heater for silky’s coop over inside food& water, a heated nipple waterer outside the coops.
We buy mark down bread ,cut up in to small squares and feed it to them as a treat they come running when they see me with the bucket!
I feed mine spinach sometimes but more kale. In winter when there is no grass I feed them vegetables, lettuce, cabbage, beets , cucumbers they love! Yogurt is very good for them also, just plain.