Affordable, healthy options to keep your flock thriving
Backyard chickens are the homesteader’s goldmine—offering fresh eggs, pest control, compost ingredients, and endless entertainment. But feeding them organically can quickly add up, especially if you’re buying pre-made organic feed. The good news? You don’t have to compromise your flock’s health (or your budget) to feed them well.
With a little planning and some DIY creativity, you can provide your chickens with a nutrient-rich, balanced, and affordable organic diet—right from your homestead.
🌾 Why Feed Chickens Organically?
Organic chicken feed avoids synthetic pesticides, GMOs, artificial additives, and questionable byproducts. The benefits include:
- Healthier chickens
- More nutrient-dense eggs
- Reduced exposure to toxins
- Better soil and garden when manure is used as compost
- Aligns with sustainable, regenerative homesteading values
But store-bought organic feed can be $30–$50 per bag. That’s where DIY and smart sourcing comes in.
🧠 What Do Chickens Need in Their Diet?
Chickens are omnivores with a few key dietary needs:
- Protein (16–20% average for laying hens)
- Carbohydrates for energy
- Healthy fats
- Vitamins and minerals (especially calcium for laying hens)
- Grit (helps them digest food)
- Fresh water (always!)
Laying hens in particular need extra calcium and protein to sustain daily egg production.
🥣 DIY Organic Chicken Feed Recipe
Here’s a well-balanced starter recipe you can tweak depending on what’s available and affordable locally. This mix makes roughly 25–30 lbs.
🧺 Base Ingredients:
- 10 lbs organic cracked corn – energy
- 10 lbs organic whole wheat or barley – carbs
- 5 lbs organic oats – energy + nutrients
- 3 lbs split peas or lentils – protein
- 2 lbs black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) – fat, protein, calcium
- 1 cup kelp meal – trace minerals
- ½ cup flaxseeds or flax meal – omega-3s
- 1 cup crushed eggshells or oyster shell – calcium
- ½ cup food-grade diatomaceous earth (optional) – pest control and minerals
Optional Boosters:
- Brewer’s yeast – B-vitamins
- Garlic powder – immunity and anti-parasitic
- Dried herbs (like oregano, thyme, parsley) – immune boosters
Mix well and store in a dry, rodent-proof container. Feed approximately 1/4 pound per hen per day (more if they’re actively laying or molting).
💡 Tips to Keep Costs Low
🛒 Buy in Bulk:
- Use a local feed co-op, bulk grain supplier, or local farm.
- Look for bulk bins at natural grocery stores for peas, lentils, and oats.
🐣 Supplement With What You Grow or Scraps:
- Garden greens: Chickens love kale, lettuce, beet tops, cabbage
- Pumpkin & squash: High in nutrients, naturally deworming
- Weeds: Dandelion, chickweed, purslane = free food
- Sunflower heads: Grow your own BOSS
- Herbs: Parsley, mint, oregano, basil boost immunity
- Kitchen scraps: Leftover rice, veggies, and fruit (avoid onions, citrus, and raw potatoes)
🐛 Let Them Forage:
- Bugs, grubs, grass, and worms are protein-rich and natural for chickens.
- Rotate them through your garden beds post-harvest.
- Let them scratch in your compost pile (great for breaking it down!).
🌱 Grow Some of Their Feed!
If you’re serious about cutting costs, grow your own chicken food. These crops are easy and productive:
- Grains: Corn, wheat, barley, millet
- Legumes: Peas, lentils, cowpeas
- Sunflowers: Seeds are high in fat and protein
- Squash & pumpkins: Store well, chickens love them
- Greens: Swiss chard, kale, alfalfa
Even a small garden patch can yield enough to supplement your feed for months.
🪨 Grit & Calcium
Chickens need grit to digest food.
- Provide coarse sand, crushed granite, or store-bought poultry grit in a separate dish.
Laying hens need added calcium.
- Crushed eggshells (baked to sanitize and ground up)
- Oyster shell (can be free-fed separately)
Never mix grit or calcium directly into their daily feed—let them self-regulate.
🚫 What Not to Feed Chickens
Avoid these to keep your flock safe:
- Moldy food
- Salty foods
- Uncooked or green potatoes
- Avocado pits/skins
- Chocolate or caffeine
- Raw beans
- Citrus (in large amounts)
- Processed junk foods
🧺 Budget Feed Breakdown: Real Numbers
Here’s a sample of approximate cost breakdown when sourced smartly in bulk (prices vary by region):
| Ingredient | Cost per lb | Amount Used | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic cracked corn | $0.45 | 10 lbs | $4.50 |
| Organic wheat/barley | $0.40 | 10 lbs | $4.00 |
| Organic oats | $0.60 | 5 lbs | $3.00 |
| Split peas/lentils | $0.75 | 3 lbs | $2.25 |
| Sunflower seeds | $1.20 | 2 lbs | $2.40 |
| Oyster shell | $0.60 | 1 lb | $0.60 |
| Kelp meal | $2.50 | 1 cup | $1.25 |
| TOTAL (~30 lbs) | — | — | ~$18 |
That’s about $0.60/lb, half the price of most pre-bagged organic feeds!
🥚 Bonus: Better Eggs, Happier Hens
Chickens raised on a varied, natural, and organic diet produce:
- Yolkier, tastier, nutrient-rich eggs
- Thicker shells
- More consistent laying
- Stronger immunity and less illness
Plus, they’ll live longer and scratch around like nature intended.
🐔 Final Thoughts
Feeding your chickens organically doesn’t mean breaking the bank. With a mix of bulk ingredients, garden scraps, and a little homestead creativity, you can keep your flock thriving on a clean, sustainable, nutrient-dense diet.
Let your chickens be part of the ecosystem—scratching, composting, and thriving. You’ll see the results in every egg.