Run out of layers pellets, what can I feed laying hens?

[Darker]

Ugh. I’ve run out of layers pellets.

Older girls but all laying well so I want them to be well nourished. What should I give them? I have lots of corn. But that won’t give them everything they need nutritionally.

Corn and scraps will ve fine for a few days. Where is your nearest farm supply shop? They should have them in stock.

I've given my hens the following in an emergency:

A box of special k
A bag of museli
Two tins of sweetcorn
Half a bag of gone off bread

And other things I'm sure! Mine are 5yrs old and still laying quite happily!

I’m working and will find it difficult to get to a shop that sells pellets before Thursday.

Thanks for the suggestions… I’m going to give them plenty of greens as well.

Two of my ladies are 7+ and doing great.

I find them very hardy, mine are out of their big walk in coop for the day and have ignored the pellets and are eating weeds. The rats are having a king's banquet!

My ladies enjoyed frozen peas and a manky cabbage ( free from greengrocer ) strung up front the run

Get a grandparents feeder. My rat problem got out of hand and they were rat burrows everywhere

Anything really - greens for yellow eggs. I’ve also fed mine cooked eggs and cat food for protein. Make a mash with leftover veg/ peelings and cereals including porridge oats, cod liver oil added.

I’ve made them a pasta dinner with a bit of ground beef for protein, peas and spinach. And I’ve let them out for a forage.

Tonight’s plat du jour is beef, peas, spinach and rice, seasoned with something I have to strengthen their shells.
Snacks include mixed corn, grapes and the end of a loaf of wholemeal bread.

Stir fry mix
corn on the cobs
wholemeal bread
various vegtable peelings cooked
layers mash
layers pellets
at times corn, but not often
sometimes there own eggs if its cracked (i did research that to make sure they could eat them)

I get mine from Amazon if you have Prime for future reference.

I'm not sure mine ever ate the pellets after the first year, they seemed to just starve until we let them out and they could forage. They got lots of scraps and they loved to eat their own cooked eggs and crushed shells.

Beef?! You know that there are DEFRA rules on what you can feed poultry?

mine got spoiled with layers mash, they seem to eat pellets but prefer mash

Just be aware it's illegal to feed hens anything that has been in your kitchen. So be careful who you share with if you do.

all vegetables are cooked and prepped at the allotment itself to prevent cross contamination

Some posts here are truly unbelievable. Just to repeat - it is illegal to feed kitchen scraps to poultry and they should certainly never be fed meat - read up on cross-species feeding as a cause of the BSE outbreak in the uk. Giving them just corn for a few days won’t hurt. Order some layers’ pellets on Amazon if you really can’t get to a feed store and please do some proper research rather than talking to strangers on MN, most of whom are clueless.

Mine loved oats, any ends of cereal, cooked spaghetti or rice, grapes, raisins but I wouldn't give them meat, don't know why as they obviously aren't vegetarian🪱🐛🐌 but just didn't seem right.

Yeah you really shouldnt' be feeding them meat (it won't hurt them but doesn't fit with modern food chain safety rules) veg trimmings is good, I'm pretty sure pre WW2 and commercial pet foods ago they kept chickens with some kind of mash or mix of oats (assume thats porridge oats) barley, corn - plus will need grit and some kind of greens e.g grass or veg trimmings.

Whenever I've been in this situation I've given ours porridge oats!

Argh! More terrible advice - don’t feed grass trimmings ever. They love them but will become crop bound and could easily die.