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Humans often take daily vitamin supplements. Depending on how they are managed, your chicken flock may need vitamin and mineral feed supplements, as well. Common, necessary feed supplements include calcium, grit, phosphorus, and salt, not including some vitamins. The following is a list of a few chicken feed supplements that are readily available to small-scale poultry farmers and chicken hobbyists. We also offer a free article with complete chicken feeding directions.

Each of the following supplements are rating on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "Not necessary" and 5 being "Crucial".

Calcium. 5 (for layers) and 2 (for non-layers). Calcium is needed by laying hens to form strong, sturdy eggshells. Hens without proper amounts of calcium lay thin-shelled eggs, or eggs with no shell at all! The amount of calcium a hen needs varies with her age, diet, health, breed, and size. Older hens need more calcium than their younger counterparts, and hens in hot weather need extra calcium concentrations in their feed since they are eating less due to the heat and might not be getting all the calcium they need. Since eggshells consist mostly of calcium carbonate, oyster shells and ground up limestone are good sources of supplementary calcium. Make sure you are not purchasing dolomite limestone, since this is harmful to egg production!

Salt. 2. Be extremely careful when giving chickens this occasionally fatal supplement! Most feeds have sufficient amounts of salt, so supplements of this should not be needed. Although minute amounts of salt are vital for a chicken's health, too much salt given to a flock when there is not enough water available can be poisonous. In warm weather, be sure that water dishes remain full, and in winter make sure that water does not freeze (or remove salt supplements from feed).

Phosphorous. 2. This supplement is needed so that the chickens can metabolize calcium (and calcium is likewise needed for the proper digestion of phosphorous). Range fed chickens do get phosphorus from beetles, but they probably don't get enough.

Grit. 4. Since chickens don't have any teeth, this important supplement is needed for proper digestion. Grit is usually sold as small pebbles or large grains of sand. These hard objects are eaten by the chickens and lodged in their gizzard. When grains, grass, and other fibrous/hard vegetation are eaten, it passes through the rocks in the gizzard where it is ground up between the stone (much like teeth). Grit should always be available, even if you're not feeding the flock heavily with grains and vegetables. Free-ranged chickens shouldn't need this supplement.

Vitamin D. 5. This vitamin is related to the assimilation of calcium and phosphorus and is needed for proper egg production. Deficiencies cause weak, thin eggshells. Vitamin D is found in cod liver oil and plenty of sunlight. Although this is a crucial vitamin, you shouldn't need to feed extra amounts unless your chickens aren't getting enough via sunlight or their feed.

Vitamin A. 2. Vitamin A is essential for good hatch-ability and chick viability (attention chicken breeders!). It comes from fresh grass and other vegetation, yellow corn, and cod liver oil. Most feeds include proper amounts of this.

Riboflavin. 3. This is one of the B vitamins and is often deficient in normal poultry feeds. If you are a breeder, deficiency of this vitamin causes embryo death during the early stages of incubation. This important vitamin is found in dairy products, yeast, liver, and plenty of leafy green vegetables.

Vitamin E. 3. Needed for proper health and protection from diseases, vitamin E is found in fresh greens, wheat germ oil, and whole grains (such as oats, corn, wheat, barley, etc.)

As you can see, the majority of the vitamins needed by chickens are found in sunlight and fresh greens. This is why free ranged chickens (or chickens in confined-free-range-systems) are so healthy. Plenty of clean air, fresh food, sunlight, and green veggies along with a few choice supplements should keep your chickens living as long as Methuselah!

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