California - Northern

[chickee]

I will try and get a better picture, my daughter was "helping" me get the chicks to look at the camera lol. I'll get a pic of the 3 white ones and the brown one too.

Oh good! I am anxious to see them

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
I wonder if your Blue Wheaten carries recessive white and maybe one of your hens does too? Two copies would give you white chicks. Of course you are right - the colors change a lot. I wish they didn't - some of those juvenile feathers are so pretty!

Hmm.. If they are pure white - then they are back to an accepted color - so they become Ameraucanas again?

 

[chickee]

I wonder if your Blue Wheaten carries recessive white and maybe one of your hens does too? Two copies would give you white chicks. Of course you are right - the colors change a lot. I wish they didn't - some of those juvenile feathers are so pretty!

Hmm.. If they are pure white - then they are back to an accepted color - so they become Ameraucanas again?

If they stay pure white (no leakage of another color) and breed true (produce only whites) then they would be considered true Ameraucanas. They are pure Ameraucana x Ameraucana after all. It is not like feed store EEs that have been bred to other breeds. They must be doing that a lot these days since so many people are getting green eggs from the hatchery birds.

 

[Nikon]

Tell Joe he better get started. I have so many breeds I think you should have

Of course you'd say that.... you a part of the Chicken Conspiracy. You want chickens to RULE THE WORLD!

Well, depends on who's a Roo and who's not in our flock. I know an Olive Egger is for sure. And i suspect Branwy (the larger of the two blue chicks who has all down still) and one of the EE's. Praying I only have the one OE Roo though cuz I don't know how I'd pick who to give away/sell

 

[Nikon]

How to use manual would be nice. How to take chick pics- mine never come out clear. I can't do extreme close ups for some reason and I don't know how to blur out the background like you pros do. I do take a lot of chicken pictures for record keeping on my breeding.

What kind of camera and lens are you using?

 

[MossyoakLane]

So I headed to Western Farms today to get some grit and meal worms. When I asked about grit in a smaller quantity the girl who worked there asked me how old my chickens were. I informed her they were 10-14 weeks olds. She then said they did not need grit, because they were not eating grains. I told her they were, in fact getting some scratch. She said they shouldn't be, and that they would not be getting enough protein.

I am confused. We are using scratch as a training aid to get them to come to us as well as to give everyone something to do (we are unable to free range inside city limits). They are getting less than 10% of their daily diet in scratch. Then they also get either meal worms or a boiled egg every day. Their feed is Modesto Mills Organic Soy Free Starter/Grower.

Should I not be giving them scratch? Should I be worried about their protein?

 

[debs_flock]

So I headed to Western Farms today to get some grit and meal worms. When I asked about grit in a smaller quantity the girl who worked there asked me how old my chickens were. I informed her they were 10-14 weeks olds. She then said they did not need grit, because they were not eating grains. I told her they were, in fact getting some scratch. She said they shouldn't be, and that they would not be getting enough protein.

I am confused. We are using scratch as a training aid to get them to come to us as well as to give everyone something to do (we are unable to free range inside city limits). They are getting less than 10% of their daily diet in scratch. Then they also get either meal worms or a boiled egg every day. Their feed is Modesto Mills Organic Soy Free Starter/Grower.

Should I not be giving them scratch? Should I be worried about their protein?

They'll be fine with scratch as a treat. Every day I throw a few handfuls (based on number of birds) into each pen. It causes all the birds to run up and I can observe them for potential problems/health issues. My treat mix is scratch, BOSS, calf manna, rabbit pellets, cat food & oyster shell. It's mostly scratch with a small scoop of each of the others, just mix it up and they come running when they see me with a bucket.

 

[ChickNmamma]

So I headed to Western Farms today to get some grit and meal worms. When I asked about grit in a smaller quantity the girl who worked there asked me how old my chickens were. I informed her they were 10-14 weeks olds. She then said they did not need grit, because they were not eating grains. I told her they were, in fact getting some scratch. She said they shouldn't be, and that they would not be getting enough protein.

I am confused. We are using scratch as a training aid to get them to come to us as well as to give everyone something to do (we are unable to free range inside city limits). They are getting less than 10% of their daily diet in scratch. Then they also get either meal worms or a boiled egg every day. Their feed is Modesto Mills Organic Soy Free Starter/Grower.

Should I not be giving them scratch? Should I be worried about their protein?

Feed store people are very helpful. They told me my chicks were Ameraucanas. I know they aren't. They tell you what they read. I don't know how many of them actually have raised chickens. I have "helped" some of them right back - especially with pasty butt chicks that weren't being washed or pulled off and were dying.

They have small bags of "chick grit" at my feed store - in little brown lunchbags. If they aren't supposed to have scratch why sell chick grit?

I give my older chicks scratch mixed in with their food. They get grit from the ground when they play outside. I think you are fine with what you are feeding them. All my littles have grown up eating scratch after they were old enough to go run around outside. Most of my mom's babies eat scratch when they are 2 days old - they stay with their mommies and my mom doesn't feed special feed so they get what is in the big tub for the big chickens. They are all healthier than those feed store chicks...

That's my two cents worth.

 

[MossyoakLane]

They'll be fine with scratch as a treat. Every day I throw a few handfuls (based on number of birds) into each pen. It causes all the birds to run up and I can observe them for potential problems/health issues. My treat mix is scratch, BOSS, calf manna, rabbit pellets, cat food & oyster shell. It's mostly scratch with a small scoop of each of the others, just mix it up and they come running when they see me with a bucket.

Thank you! I had a gut feeling she was "misinformed".

Feed store people are very helpful. They told me my chicks were Ameraucanas. I know they aren't. They tell you what they read. I don't know how many of them actually have raised chickens. I have "helped" some of them right back - especially with pasty butt chicks that weren't being washed or pulled off and were dying.

They have small bags of "chick grit" at my feed store - in little brown lunchbags. If they aren't supposed to have scratch why sell chick grit?

I give my older chicks scratch mixed in with their food. They get grit from the ground when they play outside. I think you are fine with what you are feeding them. All my littles have grown up eating scratch after they were old enough to go run around outside. Most of my mom's babies eat scratch when they are 2 days old - they stay with their mommies and my mom doesn't feed special feed so they get what is in the big tub for the big chickens. They are all healthier than those feed store chicks...

That's my two cents worth.

It was kind of funny....she acted horrified that I was feeding them scratch and that I was even thinking of giving them grit. I kept thinking "I know I have seen chick grit".. I also kept thinking that they would naturally "graze" with mom and get grit and seeds and things.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
You know, I have a question I ask every time somebody starts telling me how to raise chickens. I ask them "What kind of birds do you raise?" Different breeds do different things. I wouldn't feed Cornish X scratch - they really do need all the protein from the starter mix. However, if their answer is "none".. or "I know somebody who raises birds" then I look at their advise in a different light.

I had one very opinionated person tell me one time that "Chickens are Vegetarians" I laughed so hard and she looked affronted and told me "No, my grandmother raised chickens and they never ate meat"... hoo boy - I still can't get her to change her mind. I have seen my own chickens eat each other until I separated out the picked on one. I know they eat bugs and worms - and I have even heard of them eating rats (I wish mine would) and mice. I have seen them after lizards and snakes. I still don't know why they have chicken food that is marked "no animal by-products". I bet my birds would LOVE some animal by-products...