My husband and I have always known that we could significantly improve our egg production if we would feed highly processed organic layer feed to our laying hens. There are several reasons we want to avoid this feed. A few of these are that the cost is significantly higher, there are always synthetic vitamins added, it doesn’t produce flavorful eggs, I can’t find a local source, and it’s not as natural (just look at the color).

This winter our egg production went so low that we didn’t even have enough eggs for our family for a couple of months. We started praying for wisdom and even considered buying the very feed we have wanted to avoid. After a time my husband and I came up with a new plan. We decided to start sprouting our grains that we feed the chickens. The sprouting makes their feed more digestible and increases the nutrients significantly. We noticed a big difference in about a week. After two weeks our egg production more than doubled compared to the same time last winter. All of our hens are more than two years old, so one would expect to see a decline, not an increase.

At this time we are feeding certified organic corn that we buy from our neighbor, Brian Frazier, and we grind that with square hay bales produced beyond organic standards on our own farm. We then sprout ancient grains that we grew on our farm last summer. I ferment 1/2 gallon of milk each day to add to this, and Aiden always adds some Thorvin Kelp and Redmond Real Animal Salt to the feed. Occasionally we will give them apple cider vinegar (made with organic apples on our farm), and diatomaceous earth. At this time our chickens are in our hoop house with a fenced in area to go outside (at this time there are no green plants in this area). We will put them out to pasture in the spring and plan to give them this same feed. It will be fun to see how their egg production does on pasture.

With the extra eggs, we look forward to adding more regular customers! Pick up on the farm is very flexible and delivery is free if we will be in your area. Cory and Caleb produced this short video on how we soak and sprout our grains to improve the digestibility and the nutrients in our grain for feeding the chickens. Check it out below!

Have you tried sprouting grains for your chickens? How did it go? Did you notice an increase in egg production? We love to hear from you!