What you feed your chickens will determine the quality and quantity of fresh eggs provided by your flock.

Poultry farmers need to measure the amounts to feed their fouls.

Nutrition is important to all living things and knowing the proper feed and amounts to feed you layers will definitely yield you the best experience of egg production and rearing chickens.

There are a number of good commercial feeds on the market and if you have a small flock it would be to your advantage to choose this method of feeding rather than mixing it yourself or trying to get by with table scraps.

Corneille Ntahombasize, is a poultry farmer in Rusagara cell, Gakenke district in the Northern Province. He explained that while scratching and preparing food for egg layers farmers should respect rules regarding the type and amount of ingredients in the meal.

He explained that to produce 110Kgs of chicken meal a farmer will need to have 60Kgs of maize scraps called Branda, 12 kgs of fish pellets, 10kg of soya bean, 15 kg of sun flower 300grm of salt and vitamins amounting to 300grm.

He added that there are basically three types of commercial feed which include pellets, mash and crumbles. Pellets and crumbles are probably the easiest to feed and the least wasteful of the three choices.

Feeding your chickens a packaged feed called ‘scratch’ is one of the most effective ways to satisfy their need to dig for their dinner. Scratch is comprised of a variety of grains. It is very cost effective if you have a small flock. Chickens at different ages of life have different nutritional needs. Young chickens need a lot of protein while older ones need more starch. Most commercial feeds are labeled with appropriate age information.