Chick starter question

[Justin P]

Its been a long time since I have had chicks. I see alot about crumbles for chick starter but the chick starter i got from the feed store is a house mix that they mix. There is all kinds of oats and corn and the clerk said it has antibiotics. My question is this stuff is really fine, there are small chunks of stuff but it is almost like dust. is this normal for homemade starter.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Normally, starter isn't something that feed mills grind for themselves. The clerk might also have been mistaken on the "anti biotic". Is it merely amprollium? Look on the feed tag. See what it says.

The mill made starter might be dusty. Normally, that's fine. But big chunks? Be a bit concerned with that as little chicks cannot really handle stuff of much size. Can you describe the texture?

 

[Justin P]

there arent any big chunks the biggest chunks are oats and maybe like one quarter corn kernals. It has like an oatmeal look to it, the bag it came in is just a clear bag that was hand written to say 10# chick starter. I got it from a very popular and old feed and seed store in the area. Im sure its good but im just nervous cause im gettin my chicks tomorow. has anyone else seen an oatmeal like chick starter.

 

[Justin P]

Here is what i got, when i look at a pic of it it looks like the right stuff lol.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Without a contents tag, it is impossible to know its contents. Next time you're at that mill, it would be good to have them give you a contents tag. Normally, on a 50# or 100# they sew the tag directly onto the bag and I don't know how they could attach one to a poly bag. I'm a stickler for that, I guess.

If your feed mill is part of a national feed brand, the information is usually available on that brand's website. Here's a tag off my local mill's bag, although it is not chick starter.





As you can see, our mill is associated with Hubbard Feeds.

As to feeding your mash to the chicks, I'd guess it would be just fine. The chicks like the itty bitty pieces. They'll pick through. If you find the feeder tray is filled with larger chunks, in the end, then just dump them into a bucket and save them. When they are 8 weeks old, those chucks will be appreciated. Once they're a bit older, making a moist mash is something they'll also enjoy. Not wet enough to be porridge, but just moist enough to "glue" together. I feed moist and dressed mash to our layers.

It's good to remember that the invention of pellets is a fairly recent idea. For a century before this invention, mash or fine ground feed was what everyone sold and everyone fed. The step of pelletizing costs money. Plain and simple. Crumbles is merely the pellets crushed up, that's all crumbles are.