Baby Chick Feed

[Ringtailtwister]

I have some newly hatched chicks and this is my first time hatching. I was wondering since they are so small what to feed them? I put some oats in my blender and ground them up real small. The babies like it and I thought I'd keep them on it until they are 2 or 3 day old then start them on grower. If it will hurt them

someone please let me know. And the like to sleep in it too.

 

[Percheron chick]

Start them on a bag (50#) of chick starter. You want the balance nutrition a prepared feed has. Oats work for an emergency but not as a normal feed. A bag should last until they are 6-7 weeks than you can transition them to grower or continue with the starter. I'm fermenting all my chick feed this year and have not had one pasty butt.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Your chicks would thrive best on a well balanced chick starter crumb. A good start with nutrition in the first days and weeks is vital for good strong healthy chicks. It needs to be small enough for them to be able to eat it. A grower pellet would be too large and not have as much protein as a chick starter. Too big and they could starve. Also looking at your water container I would put some clean marbles or pebbles in the bottom of it so they don't drown if you don't have a chick waterer. They will be able to drink Inbetween these but not drown in the open water. Do you have some other bedding you could use for their box? News paper or magazine could cause your chicks to develop splay or other leg issues. Here is a nice article on raising chicks for the first 60 days ~
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens


Wishing you the very best of luck with your chicks they are adorable.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Agree with the 2 previous posts.
Oats will be too low on protein, vitamins and minerals. Furthermore, it is deficient in a couple of the amino acids essential to chickens.

 

[Ringtailtwister]

Got the issues taken care of this morning. The store sold me starter/grower so I put it in the blender and pulverized it so they wouldn't get chocked. My homemade waterer is a ham container that is shallow and I drilled holes in the top to keep them out. I'm adding Gator- ade to their water hope that's ok. Put pine shavings in their temporary brooder now they are off the newspaper. I so glad you all told me about the leg problem I'd never heard of it. I guess that's why BYC web site is here so we can help and learn from each other.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

There's no need to blend a starter/grower feed, it has been run through a crumbler to make it appropriately sized for all chicks.