Feed advice for a newbie?

ChristalB

Hatching
Apr 22, 2016
3
0
7
Tacoma Washington USA
Husband bought us chickens two weeks ago. We have 4 chickens and each is 4 months old so not quite egg laying age but not baby chicks either. The woman I bought them from told me she was using "egg layer" when I asked but I haven't been able to find anything like that in the store. It looked like granola basically so i just bought a 5lb bag of purina flock raiser because it looked the closest.

I'd like to know what they SHOULD be eating? I want to encourage foraging and stuff like that and stay close to a natural diet that isnt just corn based. I have seen some recipes for organic feed and such but it would be nice right now to just go and buy a large bag of something. Any suggestions?
 
Young birds that aren't laying, shouldn't be eating layer pellets. Because they aren't laying.
But what I feed my birds is a mixture of bird seed, black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and layer pellets. They love it!!

What you are feeding them is fine but mixing in some sunflower seeds makes them happy and healthy

BCP
 
Young birds that aren't laying, shouldn't be eating layer pellets. Because they aren't laying.
But what I feed my birds is a mixture of bird seed, black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and layer pellets. They love it!!

What you are feeding them is fine but mixing in some sunflower seeds makes them happy and healthy

BCP
Thats kind of what I was thinking (about the layer pellets). Thank you for the good advice!
 
Good layer feed is a must.You will have a healthy chickens and a good yummy eggs. Also a separate "dish" with a oyster shell is a must, for good solid egg shell. Don't mix it with a food. It has to be on the side at all times. Chickens will eat it when they need it. They are smart little goofs.
Good luck to you !
 
Good layer feed is a must.You will have a healthy chickens and a good yummy eggs. Also a separate "dish" with a oyster shell is a must, for good solid egg shell. Don't mix it with a food. It has to be on the side at all times. Chickens will eat it when they need it. They are smart little goofs.
Good luck to you !
Ok do you recommend a good layer feed? And good to know about the separate dish thing, I had no idea! I was going to pick up some oyster shell this weekend. In the meantime ive been giving them my old egg shells.
 
Mix grit with the food though, and oyster shell on the side like Ardj said. Crushed egg shells are ok to substitute for oyster shell.
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About the feed it depends what is available in your local stores. I feed my chickens NatureWise
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Layer 16% Feed pellets .
They love it, and laying a pretty and yummy eggs. Dry,crushed egg shells are good too. And they will need grit which is dirt - small stones that chickens eat to break the food (thy don't have teeth)
:) If you let them outside they will find lost of grit ,if don't just put some in the run in a bowl or something. U can buy grit at the store but its just a waste of money. There is dirt laying everywhere :)
 
Also, while at the feed store, grab a packet of Electrolyte for your chickens. They are usually sold in packets of 3 for a $3.25 or so. Put one packet in their water; it helps them adjust to your water ... which you only need to do once. The other packets might come in handy in summer when it gets so hot. Grit isn't dirt, it's little rocks that crush up their food so they can digest it. Take a look at it too as it comes in different sizes for different aged birds. They don't need a lot but I always put some in when I fill my feeders.
 
Like I said before - grit - little stones for breaking the food ,for me its the same- stones are everywhere in every scoop of dirt... Paying for something that lays all over the place is just silly.
Think about people in the old days like they raised their chickens. My grandma would have a heart attack if she would find out that people paying money for something that ridiculous.
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