Feeding time?

Hi.. I've just got 4 hens and am a little concerned that I'm going to be overfeeding them. They have a enclosure  attached to their coop) which they are in during the day while I'm at work, and this enclosure has their feed (layers pellets) and water in it, so they have access to food all day. When I get home I let them out for a few hours to forage in an outer run - this run is pretty much an enclosed wild part of the garden so they spend their time rooting around and eating what they find (and when I'm out there I give them mixed seed from the hand). Question: should I be leaving food in their enclosure during the day? Will they get fat? Also, their droppings are quite runny and I was told that if they ate too much green, their eggshells would be very thin and they'd start pecking at them. How do you avoid this if they're part free range?? Thanks in advance!

no problems with the layers pellets that is the best way to do it ! but ensure they have access to grit and oyster shell ,the grit helps their digestion and the shell their shell making .

What will make chickens fat is too many unsuitable treats.  The are supposed to have their food around all day as they are browsers.  So dont worry about that bit!  Just keep treats to things like a small handful of corn each a day, maybe the occasional mealworm, fresh greens, an apple now and again.

But no scraps out of the kitchen!   

Have you wormed them?

VermX is a preventative and is not proven to rid a bird of worms, flubenvet is a tried and tested way of worming poultry.   

Mealworms are usually the dried ones and should only be given in small amounts.  They are reasonably priced in places like Home Bargains at around £1 per bag.