Sorry to disagree, but I watched outside chicks grown up eating everything their moms could scratch up. I give mine very fine mulched grass clippings, some fruits and anything they will eat, except potatoes, they are smarter than you think. I order 100 chicks in February and lost 4 the first 2 days, none since. They are orphanings, sliver lace, cochins, all big breeds. I also put good clean bank sand for their assess starting about 3 weeks, they love it to roll in and eat quiet abit while scratching. I keep 18% protein chick starter available at all times for them but they enjoy the variety.
I think we sometimes forget, chickens were wild creatures and somehow they survived without our care and attention. Of course, it is fun to spoil them and give them treats, I watched them play keep away with a lizzard yesterday until one finally found a secure place and finished him off. Also, Sunday, I watched them make a run for the chicken house when they hear a red tail hawk overhead make his sound, this has to be a genetic memory since they have not been outside in their yard but a couple of weeks while I am present. No my 6' high chick yard is not covered and I have no intentions of covering it except with with automatic 22. I live in a rural area bordering a national forrest. I may lose a few but I keep a 22 automatic handy and the red tail will be history. No lectures please about the law, this is Texas, , there is plenty of food for the hawk elsewhere and if a couple of warning shots don't deter him, he will be buzzard bait. My chicks are endangered also and I have an investment, I would do the same thing to someone breaking into my house. And no, I am not Elizbeth Edwards neighbor, the one that freighten her because he has a gun. Remember Henny Penny said the sky was falling long before Al Gore was born and I didn't believe her either.
bmarshall
