Keeping chickens at home is not a very difficult task as long as you understand the basics and you are creative enough to exploit the numerous opportunities that will arise out of the venture. Other than, the commercial chicken feeds available at your local chicken feed stores, chicken are omnivorous just like human beings meaning that they will eat almost any thing that human beings consume.

Depending on the type of chicken you are keeping and their stages in life, it is easy to determine what to feed your chicken on. If you are breeding layers, your feeds should be more of layers' mash and alternately broilers' mash for broilers. Every body knows these basics. These mostly apply to commercial chicken keeping. Turning our attention to the backyard chicken farmer, we may want to know how this farmer feeds his chicken and whether or not he has any plan that he strictly follows.

Like other animals, chicken need a balanced diet to remain healthy and most importantly, productive. Giving chickens feed from our household waste is a trick that works for some however; this can only be effective if you are practicing free range or pastured poultry. In this method, the birds are able to roam freely in the compound. This gives them a wonderful opportunity to forage for insects, seeds, fruits and leaves or vegetables with which to complement the feed you give them.

By allowing chicken to roam freely, you are able to kill two birds with one stone. This is because as the hens walk around the compound, they will eat any pests like ticks and bugs so if you keep other farm animals that pests attack; you get to save your self the agony of having to deal with pest control. At the same time, the chickens are fond of digging up the soil, a process that helps in aerating the soil. Their droppings go a long way in improving soil fertility.

If your motive for keeping chickens at home is to get their eggs or the occasional meat, then you have to pay special attention to the diet you give your chickens. Chickens need a protein and calcium rich diet to produce good eggs rich in proteins as well as other food minerals. These proteins can be available from eating insects in plenty other than giving feeds rich in protein supplements.

Feeding chicken extra calcium supplements help them produce eggs that are strong and do not break easily. It is important to note that if chickens do not get enough calcium, the eggs come out with weak shells, which may easily break when being laid or even in the egg-laying tract leading to more health complications for the hen in question. Calcium as an important supplement can be available from oyster shells, which retail in most chicken feed outlets.

Reproductive cancer is a major killer of chickens above the age of two years; some laboratory tests have linked these deaths to the consumption of GMOs, pesticides and herbicides. It is therefore advisable to stick to an organic diet for your chicken. Also, try to ensure that pesticides and herbicide spillovers do not get to your chicken

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