The Homesteader's Way of Feeding Baby Chicks

[BarredBuff]

Okay guys, we have a thread on rabbits and adult chickens. How do you feed your chicks? Im going to do my broilers with broiler feed but I would like to take a different approach with the layer chicks, any suggestions?

 

[lwheelr]

We start them on fermented food on day 1. A mixture of 3 parts rolled oats, 3 parts cracked wheat, 3 parts cornmeal, and a splash of raw milk or cultured milk to help good bacteria grow in it. We usually start it 8 hours or more ahead of time.

Day two, we add in Finch Seed mix (1 part) , and we start them on tiny greens - usually alfalfa sprouts, but quickly branching out to finely chopped lettuce, wheatgrass (cut up so it looks like chives), or other vegetable scrap, whatever we happen to have that can be finely chopped.

About 1 week of age, we start them on shelled, chopped BOSS (finch seed mix has a little in it, we add a little more - about 1/2 part), plus some kind of protein food - cooked beans, cooked meat scrap (ground up), cooked lentils, or whatever else is cheap at the time. They need about half a cup every other day per 10 birds or so.

At one week we also switch them from the rolled oats and cornmeal to a whole grain mix (barley, corn, and oats), and the mixture changes to 3 parts grain mix, 3 parts cracked wheat, 1 part finch seed, and 1/2 part shelled cracked BOSS (if you can't find this pre-made, there is a mix with shelled BOSS and thistle seed which is just fine).

We also give them a couple of herbs on a regular basis:

If we can't get veggies, we'll give them dried dill weed or dried savory (pre-seasoning?). We gave them those because they are ok for them and we had lots on hand. Bulk dill weed is pretty cheap anyway.

We give them about a Tablespoon or two of dried Calendula once a week or so, just to keep diseases more controlled - I won't do this with our own hatched chicks, but with hatchery chicks, you just don't know what you are getting.

We are also giving them garlic - fresh, dried granules, or minced in the jar will all work. About a half a clove equivalent a day for 10 or so chicks if they seem to be having problems, once a week otherwise. Funny thing, but we started them on the garlic and the smell of their brooder cages immediately decreased - though it now smells pretty garlicky!

Just remember that with hatchery chicks, they may not have very good forage instincts so they may not eat a variety of foods well. You may lose a few cause they just don't eat well. But you'll end up with stronger, healthier chickens, with much less disease in your flocks.

Our adult chickens and ducks are doing well on a variation of this, with whole shelled sunflower seed and thistle seed, finch seed, three grain mix, and whole wheat.

 

[BarredBuff]

Interesting.... I want my birds to have strong foraging insticts because Im thinking about in the Spring, Summer, and Fall just giving my layers corn and BOSS. They forage really good seems like since I started them early.

As for a chick diet, Im definitely gonna go a different route. I was thinking

Wheat Sprouts cut finely (with grit near)
Alfalfa pellets ground up with cracked wheat and cornmeal
Then I want to add BOSS somewhere

I just really do not want to mess their bodies up but I also want good foragers, strong, healthy and adaptable birds.