Chick Starter? Flock Raiser? Layer Pellets?

[tnchickenut]

I wish mine would eat pellets! They won't, though. Picky picky.

I got two of my least favorite breeds, but I was saving them. lol. Two silkies and two white crested blue polish... both pairs... one boy, one girl. She ran a egg biz and had RIR and BRs and then some pet birds (thus the silkies and polish). Her father's dog killed the entire flock last year, she bought and raised everyone up again... and her dad's dog did it again!! This time she said that she is done until her father gets rid of the dogs (which will never happen). These 4 were in her basement because they were still young, so they were the only survivors. She just drove up and asked me to take them. What would you do? I had to!! The Polish are bantams and I'll keep them and have them for pets... they are funny.... but the silkies... I just don't know why people like them. I really don't. The older silkies I keep here for a friend... meanest things! The males are terrorists! Uck! We already had the useless bird talk... they are a useless bird. Not even cute. (now I'll get it from the silkie people)

*Please, silkie people, just PM your comments and complaints to me... let's not hijack Jeremy's thread*

 

[tnchickenut]

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Our egg shells are very hard! Sometimes I have to hit them twice against the frying pan to crack them open.
That's good advice, thank you Stacy, I would feel terrible if the (hypothetical, at this point, my incubator has been taken away from me...) little ones got stuck in the shell due to something I did wrong.

Yeah, it is one of those things we humans just don't stop to think about. My shells are pretty hard and, like I said, never use oyster shell unless there is a problem.

 

[jeremy]

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Hi neighbor.

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X2 on the Silkies...

I have 1 Polish, a buff laced from MMcM. Her name is Dorota and she is so sweet, but so so spastic! I guess I would be too if I couldn't see hardly anything.

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That'll cut another expense from my budget too!

Bye, bye oyster shell, too bad it's super cheap to begin with...
I had to switch from crumble to pellets, they were wasting SO much food, I'd find more of it on the ground (that they refused to then eat) than in the feeders.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

All of mine get Flock Raiser. Chicks get 1 bag of medicated starter then they are on Flock Raiser with everybody else. I offer calcium free choice. I get Xlarge eggs with nice hard shells. and boy are they yummy!!

 

[3chimama]

I feed my all ages flockraiser and then offer oyster shell on the side. Plenty of treats througout the day as well.

 

[Kansaseq]

Adult birds get layer, anything older than a few weeks get flock raiser.

 

[AllCoop'dUp]

Jeremy...Oakland, as in Oregon, Oakland? I have 4 Delawares that were supposed to be high quality but I'm seeing green legs in 3 of them that look like hens. Only one with nice yellow legs and of course it's looking like a roo.

Needless to say, I won't be trying to hatch any babies because of the green legs. How's your Dellies?

 

[jeremy]

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Why do you use flock raiser? It has 4% more protein than the layer pellet, have you noticed a difference in food consumption due to this?

 

[jeremy]

AllCoop'dUp :

Jeremy...Oakland, as in Oregon, Oakland? I have 4 Delawares that were supposed to be high quality but I'm seeing green legs in 3 of them that look like hens. Only one with nice yellow legs and of course it's looking like a roo.

Needless to say, I won't be trying to hatch any babies because of the green legs. How's your Dellies?

A little farther south AllCoop'dUp, I'm in Oakland, CA. I didn't even know there was an Oakland, OR!

Where'd you get the Dels you have now? No, they're definitely not suppose to have green legs.

I love my Delawares. I have 4 of the original hatchery girls I got about 2 years ago, they still lay up a storm. (They won't be used in my breeding program.)
This year I hatched many eggs from different breeders (some here on BYC, other's who aren't) and a lot of my birds are growing out very nicely. I've got quite a few pullets who fit the SOP very well. I plan on starting to hatch eggs as early as I can next year, probably towards the end of February. I'm also looking into a few more breeders to diversify my lines a bit more. I'm predicting I'll have hatching eggs available towards April, if you want to give Dels another shot.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

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Why do you use flock raiser? It has 4% more protein than the layer pellet, have you noticed a difference in food consumption due to this?

I started using it when I had chicks, layers, roos, quail and quineas. Was crazy trying to buy this and that feed for the different ages and types. My birds free-range and I go through about 50lbs of feed a month for 15 birds. ( I think they eat a lot of BOSS out of the neighbors feeders, lol) My largest bird is Broomhilda, BSL, 8lbs. My Bobwhite quail are all close to 1lb. My chicks seem to grow really well on the flock raiser. I do feed them one bag of Medicated starter because I think they need to have that little bit of medication to start them on their way to healthy hens. I haven never lost a bird due to any kind of illness. (Lost them to dogs and a feral cat)