12 week old chickens

[Chickenman623]

I've got 7 12 week old chickens. I just just out in the run reading a book and noticed one of the hens as she grabbed about 5 down feathers out of the back of one of the others.........(PLUCK!!!)..............and I'll be danged if she didn't gulp one of them down. I did my research and found that their feathers are 85/95% Protein and any chicken eating feathers is deficient in Protein. I'm feeding Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. It's only 20% Protein...........so obviously not enough for this one hen at least. Their run is 8' wide by about 16' long and I guess they have scratched and pecked all the bugs out of that they can find. I plan on building a much larger pen around their coup and run but can't do it right now. I know chickens are carnivorous.....I've seen them eat mice and snakes. But I don't come across either frequently enough to provide them as supplement. And I sure can't afford to feed them store-bought meal worms. We eat a lot of chicken at our table, but the key word here is "eat".............................. because there's, nothing left to pass on to the chickens. Is there a better way to get Protein to the hens, i.e. canned cat food, canned dog food, dry cat and dog food, out of date tuna in cans, or anything like that? Open to ideas here if you've experienced the same situation and found a solution.

 

[nikkers390]

I've got 7 12 week old chickens. I just just out in the run reading a book and noticed one of the hens as she grabbed about 5 down feathers out of the back of one of the others.........(PLUCK!!!)..............and I'll be danged if she didn't gulp one of them down. I did my research and found that their feathers are 85/95% Protein and any chicken eating feathers is deficient in Protein. I'm feeding Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. It's only 20% Protein...........so obviously not enough for this one hen at least. Their run is 8' wide by about 16' long and I guess they have scratched and pecked all the bugs out of that they can find. I plan on building a much larger pen around their coup and run but can't do it right now. I know chickens are carnivorous.....I've seen them eat mice and snakes. But I don't come across either frequently enough to provide them as supplement. And I sure can't afford to feed them store-bought meal worms. We eat a lot of chicken at our table, but the key word here is "eat".............................. because there's, nothing left to pass on to the chickens. Is there a better way to get Protein to the hens, i.e. canned cat food, canned dog food, dry cat and dog food, out of date tuna in cans, or anything like that? Open to ideas here if you've experienced the same situation and found a solution.

Chickens are opportunistic omnivores. They eat everything they can. Mine get all outdated cans of whatever, eggs, sausage, chicken and turkey carcasses, left overs. You can use soaked, dry cat and dog food, commercial fish food, hog chow, whatever. These should be supplements to their regular feed. The best thing to do is turn them out to free range in the grass or yard. That would keep them busy and less likely to pick on each other.

 

[Chickenman623]

Thanks for that. Even though I'd sure like to, I can't turn them out in the yard yet because I've not been able to build their larger enclosure. I had a motorcycle accident 12 weeks ago and driving t-posts is not in my recovery regime. But soaking some dried dog or cat chow is a doo-able.

 

[rosemarythyme]

20% protein is plenty for most breeds of chicken. Might just be a bored bird, or an opportunist. Do you see any birds with bald patches?

 

[Chickenman623]

No bald patches. Just happened to see the one "snatch and grab".........oh and swallow!

 

[rosemarythyme]

No bald patches. Just happened to see the one "snatch and grab".........oh and swallow!

Might not really be an issue then. Keep an eye on things, but hopefully you don't see the problem worsening.

 

[Chickenman623]

Okie-Dokie. Little wife and I had BBQ for lunch. She brought home half a Brisket sandwich. So we cut the remaining Brisket into 1/4" cubes and took it out to the Chicks. They had fun with it and I feel better now that they've had some "serious" protein.