Chickens need a balanced layer or grower feed as their base, supplemented with calcium (oyster shell), grit for digestion, and fresh treats. Protein requirements vary by age and purpose — layers need more calcium, chicks need higher protein.
Daily nutritional needs for adult chickens — hover any bar to explore. Log scale.
Protein is the single most important macronutrient for a laying hen, and the demands are relentless. Every egg she produces contains roughly 6 to 7 …
Calcium is the defining mineral of the laying hen's diet, and the numbers are staggering. Every single eggshell contains roughly 2 grams of pure calcium …
Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in a chicken's body after calcium, and the two are deeply interconnected. Roughly 80% of a hen's phosphorus …
Fat is the most energy-dense nutrient in your chicken's diet, delivering more than twice the calories per gram compared to protein or carbohydrates. For a …
Vitamin D is calcium's essential partner — without it, all the oyster shell in the world will not help your hen build strong eggshells. Vitamin …
Omega-3 fatty acids — particularly ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), EPA, and DHA — are powerful anti-inflammatory compounds that support immune function, feather quality, and reproductive health …
Vitamin A keeps your chickens' eyes sharp, their respiratory tracts healthy, and their reproductive systems running smoothly. It maintains the mucous membranes lining the throat, …
Water is the single most critical and most overlooked nutrient for backyard chickens. A laying hen drinks roughly twice as much water by weight as …
Fiber plays a different role in chickens than in mammals. Chickens are not hindgut fermenters like rabbits or horses, so they do not rely on …
Iron is the mineral at the heart of hemoglobin — the protein that carries oxygen from your hen's lungs to every cell in her body. …
Zinc is a quiet workhorse in your chicken's body, involved in over 300 enzyme systems that touch nearly every biological process. It is essential for …
Magnesium is a behind-the-scenes essential that keeps your chickens' nervous and muscular systems running properly. About 60% of a chicken's body magnesium resides in the …
Manganese is a trace mineral that punches well above its weight in poultry nutrition. Its most important role for laying hens is in eggshell quality …
Selenium is a trace mineral that forms the core of glutathione peroxidase — one of the body's most important antioxidant enzymes — protecting cells from …
Sodium is an essential electrolyte that maintains fluid balance, supports nerve impulse transmission, and helps transport nutrients across cell membranes. For laying hens, sodium plays …
Potassium is one of the most abundant minerals in your chicken's body and is essential for virtually every cell function. It maintains the electrical gradient …
Copper is a trace mineral essential for iron metabolism — without adequate copper, your hen cannot properly mobilize iron from her stores to build hemoglobin, …
Vitamin E is your flock's antioxidant shield, protecting cell membranes from the oxidative damage that comes with the intense metabolic demands of daily egg production. …
Vitamin K is the clotting vitamin — without it, even a small wound or internal bruise could lead to dangerous uncontrolled bleeding. It activates the …
Thiamine (Vitamin B1) is essential for converting carbohydrates into usable energy and maintaining healthy nervous system function. It acts as a coenzyme in the metabolic …
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) is one of the most critical B vitamins for poultry, and its deficiency produces one of the most recognizable nutritional diseases in …
Niacin (Vitamin B3) is crucial for energy metabolism, converting the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in feed into usable cellular energy through the coenzymes NAD and …
Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5) is a component of coenzyme A, one of the most important molecules in all of cellular metabolism. Coenzyme A is involved …
Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) is central to amino acid metabolism — it helps the body process and rearrange amino acids from dietary protein into the specific …
Folate (Vitamin B9) is essential for every process in the hen's body that involves rapid cell division — and in a laying hen, that includes …
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is essential for red blood cell formation, nervous system maintenance, and DNA synthesis. It works closely with folate in the metabolic pathways …
Choline is sometimes grouped with the B vitamins, though technically it is not one. It serves three essential functions in your hen's body: it is …
Chloride works alongside sodium to maintain fluid balance and acid-base equilibrium throughout the hen's body. It is also a key component of hydrochloric acid (HCl) …
Carbohydrates are the primary energy source for chickens, providing the glucose that fuels all daily activities from foraging to egg production. Grains like corn, wheat, …
Omega-6 fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid, are essential fats that chickens cannot synthesize and must obtain from their diet. They are structural components of cell …
Iodine is a trace mineral essential for the production of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4), which regulate metabolic rate, body temperature, and the growth cycles …
Carotenoids are the pigments responsible for the rich, deep orange yolks that backyard chicken keepers are so proud of — and that store-bought eggs rarely …
Probiotics are live beneficial microorganisms that support the complex ecosystem of bacteria living in your chicken's digestive tract, particularly the ceca. A healthy chicken gut …
Methionine is the first limiting amino acid in poultry diets, meaning it is the one most likely to run short before any other amino acid. …
Lysine is the second limiting amino acid in poultry diets (after methionine), meaning it is the next most likely to run short in a grain-based …
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid with a fascinating dual role in chicken biology. First, it is a standard building block for protein synthesis, needed …
Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that, unlike most amino acids, is not incorporated into proteins. Instead it functions as a free amino acid with …
Biotin (Vitamin B7) is essential for healthy skin, feathers, and claws because it supports keratin production and the fatty acid synthesis that maintains skin barrier …
Lutein is a specific carotenoid pigment that concentrates in the eyes, skin, and egg yolks of chickens. It is the primary pigment responsible for the …
Glucosamine is a naturally occurring amino sugar that serves as a building block for cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and the synovial fluid that lubricates joints. While …
Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone) is a fat-soluble compound present in the mitochondria of every cell, where it plays a critical role in the electron transport chain …
Arginine is a truly essential amino acid for chickens — unlike mammals, poultry cannot synthesize arginine at all through the urea cycle, making it completely …
Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid and the only fatty acid formally classified as essential for chickens, meaning they absolutely cannot synthesize it and …
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) occupies an unusual position in chicken nutrition: chickens can synthesize it internally, so it is not technically a dietary essential. However, …
The dietary electrolyte balance (dEB) is a calculated value representing the relationship between sodium, potassium, and chloride ions in the diet, expressed as milliequivalents per …
