Homemade chick starter recipe

[Kelsie2290]

Weird, you'd think somebody would have fed chicks destined to be laying hens or at least duel purpose breeds a really high fat diet just too see what happens. Their idea of high fat seems to be like 6% in regular diets. I can't find anything either on high fat chick diets and any study seems to be either the laying hens like the study you posted or in broilers. Suppose that since they don't need it high and the extra fat just adds to the cost involved nobody bothered since it wouldn't make economic sense to feed past a certain percentage. At least none of them seem to think that high fat is a problem in chickens, unless it makes them, well, fat.
That is the only article I saw which seems to think really high fat is a potential problem, but it starts with day old chicks, and god knows what it really means.
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/101/6/755.full.pdf
Think it is back to the give them as wide a range of food stuffs as you can, and hope it all balances out in the end.

 

[CordovaAK]

My issue is that i can't tell if they calculate the percentages based on weight or on calories. I couldn't find info based on weight. I'm supplementing in some Greek yoghurt with snacks and a little in one water dish. That gives quite a bit of protein and probiotics. I've also eliminated the flax seed and replaced it with quinoa, also higher protein.

 

[Kelsie2290]

http://www.poultryhub.org/nutrition/feed-ingredients/

Think most of them do a target kcal per kilogram/pound and protein % by weight ...

http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G8352

 

[chicNlove]

My issue is that i can't tell if they calculate the percentages based on weight or on calories. I couldn't find info based on weight. I'm supplementing in some Greek yoghurt with snacks and a little in one water dish. That gives quite a bit of protein and probiotics. I've also eliminated the flax seed and replaced it with quinoa, also higher protein.

I am looking for a homemade recipe for new chicks....how did yours do on this recipe?

 

[catw]

It seems to me they have such a varied diet that there has to be enough of everything they need. Do all of them eat all of it? My theory is that animals and people eat what they need. If you crave something it's probably because you need it. Maybe chickens are the same.

 

[LindaB220]

 

[LindaB220]

I found this on an old thread today. Outstanding!!

I found this site with various
recipes for mash or feed

http://www.birdfarm.bravepages.com/starterx.html

 

[chicNlove]

WOW!!!!! You did it!!! Thank you so much!!!

 

[CordovaAK]

Haven't been on in a while. We now have 15 exceptionally healthy and productive chickens. We're getting about 8-12 eggs a day! The only difference I noticed when I switched to a manufactured chick starter (once it finally arrived!) was they quieted down a lot. They peeped like crazy when they were eating lots of whole grains. I dunno, maybe a bit too hard on their newly developing digestive tracts. They turned out great though. I'd be willing to bet that they'll have larger than average gizzards.

 

[CordovaAK]

Oh yeah I just yesterday collected a few pounds of seaweed to try out as a vitamin mineral supplement and the ladies love it! I also added some peanuts to their scratch cuz 5 lb. bags were on sale and they won't eat em. Weird.