1. Fresh greens all year long: Provide your chickens with nutritious, living food anytime.

2. Makes grains easier to digest: Sprouting breaks down complex starches for better absorption.

3. Increased nutrients: Sprouts contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals than dry grains.

4. Unlocks 45% more nutrients: Sprouting activates enzymes and enhances nutrient availability.

5. Decreased feed cost: Supplementing regular feed with fodder reduces overall feed expenses.

6. Happier chickens: Chickens enjoy fresh, tasty greens that encourage natural foraging behavior.

7. More eggs: Better nutrition supports consistent and higher egg production.

8. Thicker egg shells: Essential minerals from fodder improve shell strength and quality.

9. Grains stripped of starches: Makes feed lighter and easier to digest for chickens.

10. Deeper orange yolk: Nutrient-rich fodder enhances yolk color and overall egg quality.

Affordable Seeds: Check your local dollar store for packs of herb, flower, and fruit seeds. These are perfect for growing a small garden for your chickens!

Chicken-Friendly Garden: Scatter seeds near your coop and run. Your flock will enjoy fresh herbs, fruits, and veggies throughout the season.

Reuse Cleaning Water: When cleaning your chicken waterers or washing boots after coop chores, use the runoff to water your garden—your chickens benefit and your garden grows!

Access to Natural Food: Free-ranging gives your chickens insects, seeds, flowers, and greens — cutting down on feed costs while boosting their nutrition.

Health Benefits: Sunshine and outdoor activity keep your chickens healthier, resulting in eggs that are more nutritious for your family.

Pest Control: Chickens love eating grubs, June bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles, naturally helping reduce bugs around your property.

Don’t Waste Eggshells: Eggshells are an excellent natural source of calcium for your chickens. Instead of throwing them away, feed them back to your flock.

Drying Process: Set the eggshells aside to dry. You can bake them in the oven at 275°F for one hour or let them sit in the sun until fully dried.

Serving: Crush the dried eggshells and offer them in a separate container. Avoid mixing with regular feed to prevent your chickens from consuming too much calcium. Chickens will naturally eat only what they need.

Reduce Waste: Many perfectly good food scraps end up in the trash. Your chickens can enjoy things like zucchini, tomato tops, and pepper stems that restaurants and neighbors often discard.

Seasonal Treats: During fall, don’t throw away your jack-o’-lanterns! Chickens will happily devour pumpkins, and you can encourage your neighbors to do the same.

Tip: Ask neighbors and local restaurants to save scraps for your flock—it’s an easy, low-cost way to supplement their diet.

Safe Tree Trimmings: Give chickens leaves and fruit from your fruit trees, but avoid apricot and apple trees—they are poisonous to chickens.

Favorite Trees: Chickens love plums, peach, nectarine, persimmons, and their leaves. Trim branches during the growing season and let your flock enjoy them—they will strip them bare!

Garden Treats: Watermelon is a summertime favorite. Feed it seeds and all—it helps keep your chickens cool during extreme heat waves.

Farm Fresh Eggs Sell Well: You’ll be surprised how many people love buying farm fresh eggs! Prices range from $4–$10 per dozen depending on your area.

Colorful Egg Cartons: Offer a beautiful variety of eggs for customers by choosing different breeds: Crested Cream Legbars (blue), Olive Eggers (green), Marans (dark brown), Orpingtons (light brown), Silkie (cream).

Maximize Appeal: A mix of colors not only looks stunning in cartons but also draws more attention from buyers, helping cover your regular chicken feed costs.

Identify Older Hens: Hens are at their peak laying between 1–2 years. After that, egg production gradually decreases.

Sell Non-Productive Hens: Many people are willing to buy older hens. Selling unproductive birds can help offset your chicken feed costs.

Use Earnings Wisely: Money earned from selling older or non-productive hens can go directly toward maintaining your flock and buying feed.

Healthy Greens: Chickens love fresh lawn clippings and weeds. Just ensure they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers.

Better Nutrition: Feeding your chickens fresh greens makes their eggs healthier and tastier for you.

Deeper Orange Yolks: Eggs from chickens with access to bugs, flowers, and weeds have richer, deeper orange yolks compared to factory-farmed eggs.

Dollar Store Finds: Check your local dollar store for suet cakes in the gardening section. They make a tasty, nutritious treat for your chickens, filled with sunflower seeds, wheat or oat flakes, and suet/coconut oil.

DIY Suet Cakes: Make your own suet cakes and add home-bred mealworms or crickets for extra protein. Hang them in the chicken run and watch your chickens peck and enjoy—a great boredom buster!

Feed in Portions: Don’t leave food out all day. Adult chickens eat about ¼ lb. of feed daily (≈ ½ cup of layer feed).

Free-Range Still Needs Feed: Even free-range chickens should receive layer feed daily. Fresh greens, flowers, and bugs complement their diet, resulting in nutritionally superior eggs.

Remove Uneaten Feed: Any leftover food should be taken in at the end of the day. Chickens don’t need food at night, and leaving it out can attract predators.

Create Nutrient-Rich Soil: Use your chickens’ manure to make rich garden compost. It’s free and highly nutritious for your plants.

Chicken Helpers: Chickens love scratching through the compost for bugs, seeds, and treats. They naturally turn and aerate the pile while adding more manure—making your composting process even easier!

Reduce Food Waste: Chickens naturally peck and scratch their feed, scattering it everywhere. Hanging feeders stop this and keep feed off the ground.

Grow Herbs & Veggies: Check local stores for packs of herb, flower, and fruit seeds. Scatter them near your chicken coop to grow fresh greens for your flock. Use water from cleaning chicken waterers and washing boots to water your garden.

Natural Rodent Deterrents: Many herbs act as rodent repellents! For more details on using herbs around chickens, read my article below.