Chicks will be chicks?

[4H kids and mom]

Well, I'd gone out today to get some of the things to put in my organic mix that I'm moving the chicks to once they finish their last bag of starter (in about 2 weeks- they'll be 8 weeks old). So I got like 5 of these 50 lb bags sitting there in the 'barn' (used to be a garage, but now that it has the coop in it, BARN seems more appropriate lol) waiting to be mixed in the tub. I got ground corn, wheat, barley, linseeds, and a bag of organic layer grower pellets.

Anyway, the chicks are out and about and enjoying the sun today by lounging with outspread wings. Then I hear all kinds of camotion coming from the barn, to find that three of them had poked (ripped?) a hole in two of the bags and spilling the contents on the floor. Man, they were chowing down!

My question, is that I'm wondering how bad the ground corn and wheat are for them now? (Those are the 2 bags they got open) I hope its alright, because I have no idea how much they ate, and they ate it with gusto!

So I had to mix it all up tonight, when I would have rather waited. Looks yummy!

 

[allen wranch]

They should be OK, unless they ate so much that they got an impacted crop. If impacted, the crop would not have gone down overnight and would be hard the next morning.

If you are going to switch feeds, start at 50/50 with their old feed then gradually increase until they are on the new feed 100%. However, most birds love the grains and they may pick them out and leave the old stuff.

 

[4H kids and mom]

Most of the Organic grains I got are ground. Will they still be able to pick them out? The feed store guys said they wouldn't.

 

[allen wranch]

Not as much if they are ground, but they may still prefer one part of the mix over another.