My first chicken question. Feed mash and fresh vegetables!

I still have a month before I become a chicken keeper but I dont want to make too many mistakes at the cost of my birds welfare. I have read in various places about making a 'mash' from vegetable leftovers. It seems they will be virtualy free to feed! But none of them explain why I make the mash rather than feed them the vegetables fresh. I plan to grow some extra corn now and feed them the dried ripe cobs and grow various greens for them. Is this not such a good idea then, and should all this go into a mash? Also potato peeling, can I feed them straight to the birds? I will happily grow extra crops for my girls if they need it

Thanks Grannie Annie, I will sow them lots of cabbages then! What kind of protien would they need? Should I grow some extra beans or get the boys to gather snails? Or maybe there is a supplement I should feed along with the mash?

If the best thing is to use pellets as well as mash and fresh veg then I shall do that! I suppose just like anything else a varied diet is good

Thanks for asking this question. I have been feeding my girls with left-overs but stopped as it seems to give them the runs. I had never thought of diluting it with layers pellets as suggested by grannie.

We do have a few old timers on here who never feed their chickens the pellets as they make up their own feed, but for those of us who don't have enough knowledge to do that, buying a proper layers pellet is best as it has all the protein, vitamins etc that your chicken needs to give you those lovely eggs.