Set up feed, water and heat protection for laying hens
Layers need a balanced layer ration, clean water at all times and protection from heat. Heat stress cuts laying and can kill birds.
How
- Feed a complete layer ration; keep grain and treats to about 10 percent of the diet. Provide grit and, if shells thin, extra calcium such as oyster shell.
- Check the law before feeding kitchen scraps. Example, Great Britain: it is illegal to feed catering waste, kitchen scraps, meat or meat products to farmed animals, even pets. This includes vegetarian kitchens that use milk (APHA). Never feed meat, or food from a kitchen that handles meat, to pigs where scraps are allowed.
- Place drinkers so birds cannot foul them with their feet and shade drinkers and hoses from direct sun.
- Give shade over the run, ideally on the west side for afternoon sun, plus airflow from vents or fans.
- Watch for heat stress: open-beak panting and wings held away from the body. Pale comb and limpness are an emergency.
- In heat waves, feed early morning or late evening, keep water cool, and collect eggs often. Cool a collapsed hen by placing her body (not head) in cool, not icy, water.
- For chicks and winter laying light, see animals-28.
Safety: Never leave birds in a closed coop in hot sun. Use fans and cords out of birds' reach to reduce fire risk. Legal: in Great Britain, and some other countries, kitchen scraps must not be fed to poultry, pigs or other farmed animals. They can spread African and Classical swine fever and foot and mouth disease (APHA). Check your national rule.
Sources
- Backyard Flock Production. Oklahoma State University Extension, accessed 2026-11
- Managing backyard chickens during periods of extreme summer temperature. Poultry Extension (extension.org), accessed 2026-11
- Living on the land: Backyard chicken coop design (EC 1644). Oregon State University Extension Service, accessed 2026-11
- APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk. Animal and Plant Health Agency, GOV.UK, accessed 2026-11