NatureWise® Harvest Blend Poultry Feed: What Is Textured Feed and What Are the Benefits?

If you’ve ever watched your flock rush to the feeder at mealtime, you know chickens can be enthusiastic eaters. If you’re considering a textured feed like Nutrena^® NatureWise^® Harvest Blend, you may be wondering: What is textured feed, what are its benefits, and will my chickens pick through it for their favorite ingredients?

Textured feed can give your flock the variety and visual appeal they naturally enjoy while providing the balanced nutrition they need in a complete feed. Understanding how textured feed works and how your chickens interact with it can help you feel confident in choosing the right feeding program for your flock.  

What Is Textured Feed?

Textured feed is a blend of recognizable ingredients that chickens and other birds can easily see, peck at, and eat. Unlike pellets or crumbles, textured feed combines different ingredient types and sizes to create a varied feeding experience.

Depending on the formula, textured feed may contain grains, seeds, vegetables, protein-rich pellets, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutritional ingredients. While you can see individual ingredients in the blend, a complete textured feed is formulated to provide balanced nutrition, not simply a mixture of grains.

For many backyard flock owners, textured feed offers the best of both worlds. It provides the visual appeal, and variety chickens naturally enjoy, while helping ensure they receive complete nutrition to support their health, egg production, and overall well-being.

Why Do Chickens Like Textured Feed?

Chickens are natural foragers. Their instinct is to investigate, peck, and explore different foods in their environment.  

That natural behavior is one reason your flock may be attracted to textured feed. The visible ingredients provide variety and encourage natural pecking behaviors, giving your birds an engaging feeding experience.

While every flock is different, many chicken owners notice enthusiastic behavior at feeding time when introducing a textured feed. Birds are often drawn to the different textures, colors, and ingredient variety found throughout the feed.

What Are the Benefits of Textured Feed?

A complete textured feed can provide benefits for both you and your flock.

Supports Natural Pecking Behaviors

Your chickens naturally spend time investigating and pecking at different types of food. The variety of ingredients in textured feed encourages this natural behavior and can make feeding time more engaging.

Provides Variety Your Flock Can Enjoy

The visible ingredients in textured feed give your chickens a variety of shapes, textures, and ingredients to explore. This can make the feeding experience more interesting while still providing a nutritionally balanced ration.

Complete Nutrition in One Feed

One of the biggest advantages of choosing a complete textured feed is that you can provide ingredient variety without relying on scratch grains.

Scratch grains are not intended to replace a complete poultry feed. A complete feed is formulated to provide the nutrients your flock needs as part of its daily diet.

NatureWise^® Harvest Blend feeds combine recognizable ingredients with essential nutrients your flock needs. Depending on the formula, these feeds provide protein, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and calcium to support your flock’s nutritional needs.

Helps Support Healthy Egg Production

If you’re feeding laying hens, choosing a complete layer feed is an important part of supporting their nutritional needs.

NatureWise^® Harvest Blend Layer includes 18% protein, vitamins A, D3, and E, and calcium to help support healthy egg production, strong eggshells, and bright yolks.

Will Chickens Pick Out Their Favorite Pieces?

This is a common question you may have when considering a textured feed.

Because textured feeds contain recognizable ingredients, your chickens may naturall show interest in certain pieces. That’s part of what makes textured feed appealing to many flocks.

However, selective eating can become a management concern if birds consistently leave nutritional ingredients behind. Your feeding practices can help encourage more consistent consumption of the complete ration.

Rather than continually topping off the feeder, follow the feeding directions on your specific label. Nutrena NatureWise’s current Harvest Blend feeding directions recommend keeping feed available rather than allowing feeders to run empty.

How To Reduce Selective Feeding in Poultry?

If you’re feeding a textured feed, good flock management can help support consistent feed intake.

Limit Treats and Table Scraps

Treats can be a fun way to interact with your flock, but they shouldn’t replace a complete feed. Feed treats and table scraps in moderation, so your flock continues receiving majority of their daily nutrition from their complete ration.

Follow Consistent Feeding Practices

Follow the feeding directions for your specific Nutrena feed and provide you flock with consistent access to its complete ration. Avoid practices that encourage birds to consume only their favorite ingredients.

Provide Adequate Feeder Space

Make sure your flock has enough feeder space for birds to eat comfortably. Adequate access can help reduce competition and give more birds an opportunity to consume their complete ration.

Keep Feed Fresh

Store feed in a cool, dry location and follow recommended storage practices on the label. Fresh feed helps maintain quality, palatability, and nutritional value.

Why Choose Nutrena^® NatureWise^® Harvest BlendTextured Feed?

If you’re looking for a textured poultry feed that combines recognizable ingredients with complete nutrition, NatureWise Harvest Blend offers options designed for different flock needs.

NatureWise Harvest Blend Layer 18% Protein Textured Feed is formulated for chickens 16 weeks of age or at the onset of lay. It combines recognizable whole ingredients with a high-protein pellet and provides 18% protein, vitamin A, D3, and E, and calcium to support laying hens.

For mixed flocks, NatureWise Harvest Blend All Flock 21% Protein Textured Feed provides 21% protein and is formulated for layers, turkeys, ducks, geese, and pheasants older than 7 weeks. It combines recognizable ingredients with a nutritional pellet and includes vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and calcium.

Both formulas also feature Nutrena NatureWise’s Herbal Blend and FlockShield™. FlockShield is formulated with prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics to support immune health, gut health, and nutrient absorption in healthy flocks. Herbal blend is a carefully selected blend of essential oils and plant-extracts such as oregano, thyme, rosemary, star anise, and marigold extract that work together to support digestive health.

At Nutrena, we know you want to give your flock quality nutrition without making feeding more complicated than it needs to be. NatureWise Harvest Blend feeds gives you a complete feed in a textured format, combining recognizable ingredients and nutritional benefits in one convenient feeding option.