Best Chicken Supplements For Your Poultry

 

If you reside in a location that gets pummeled with snow and low temperatures during the winter, your chickens will undoubtedly want the extra nutritional boost with Chicken Supplements that only vitamins can provide. 

Every winter on our Wisconsin farm, I give my hens a handful of high-quality, natural nutrients. In this essay, I'll explain why you should consider supplementing your chickens throughout the winter months, which supplements I recommend, and the benefits they give for your flock.

Why offer nutritional supplements to your chickens in the winter?

For starters, the sudden change in temperature can be unpleasant for your flock. Hens waste more energy keeping warm during the winter months, therefore I recommend a few vitamins to promote circulation (more on that later).

Second, without access to pasture, dirt, worms, and bugs, your flock's diet changes dramatically, and their nutrition suffers. The yellowing of yolks, after seeing rich orange yolks all summer, is the most clear symptom to me. 

Third, because hens are kept in significantly closer (and often immovable) quarters during the winter, the possibility of infection and disease spreading is increased. On our farm, we use the deep litter approach during the winter. During the winter, we utilize the deep litter method on our farm plus a DIY Coop Refresher (recipe here!) to keep ammonia stink to a minimum. We know from experience that the sudden change in habitat from open pasture to barn causes stress in our birds, so we do everything we can to keep them healthy.

Finally, giving supplements (also known as treats!) is a great way to bond with your birds. I enjoy supplementation time, as do my daughters - just look at how happy they are!

1. Dried Organic Kelp or Seaweed

There are various advantages to supplementing your hen's diet with organic dried kelp (seaweed). According to a 2015 study from Nova Scotia, seaweed helped promote healthy bacteria in fowl digestive tracts. Because seaweed is an excellent prebiotic, the EU sees it as a possible replacement for growth hormones and antibiotics. While we are strongly opposed to the use of growth hormones and antibiotics on our farm, we are all for chickens with healthy microbial activity in their guts! 

Another study published in 2014 found that adding fermented seaweed to broiler diets improved immunity and increased development rate.

Anecdotally, when we started putting kelp in our hens' feed once a week, we noticed an increase in egg output. Many of the hens who were laying eggs every three days began laying eggs every two days. All of our chickens were laying once a day after a month of kelp treatment. 

While the lower winter temperatures enhance our hens' feed consumption, we still see a drop in body weight as they try to keep warm. I'm increasing their immunity by adding kelp to their meal, and their winter weight loss isn't as significant.

I recommend and use Chicken Suppplements from Unim Pharma Lab Pvt. Ltd. Add 1 cup of dried kelp powder every five-gallon pail of feed once a week.

2. Butternut squash or pumpkin 

I must admit that there is a lot of controversy about whether or not pumpkin seeds are a proven chicken dewormer. Personally, I dislike using Wazine or other chemical dewormers because the eggs must be discarded throughout treatment. On my farm, I can't afford that kind of waste, so I choose the natural path.

It has long been said that pumpkin seeds serve as an anthelmintic (used to kill parasitic worms), but after more investigation, I discovered that the pumpkin seeds must be ground up in order to provide a higher concentration to your chickens. It is sufficient to ground your pumpkin seeds in a coffee grinder or a Vitamix (this is what I do!).

3. Turmeric

Turmeric has a plethora of advantages for your chickens' diet. Turmeric contains both antibacterial and antimicrobial characteristics due to the curcuminoids and turmerones found in it, assisting in the overall health of your flock.

According to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Animal Science, the addition of turmeric boosted growth performance in poultry due to improved antioxidant activity and antibacterial properties.

Turmeric is also an anti-inflammatory, which helps lessen inflammatory disorders in poultry, which can lead to sickness and death. It's important to know that no study has ever found turmeric to be harmful to poultry!

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