Dixie Chicks

[Amberjem]

as to what I am feeding.. I am feeding chick starter for the babys and they started getting a bit of grit n meal worms..and the big guys outside are getting all the layer crumble they can eat.. 1/4 cup of mixed grain scratch in the morning, tons of veggies kale, brocilli, and various other goods, try to give them any fat or leftover meats n such and started giving them a small handful of Boss seed at night with some mealworms........always have oyster shell on hand and grit but they have free range area birdnetted off and my soil is extremely sandy n such so probly unecessary to keep grit.......I have plans on sprouting some Boss seed to feed them and will probly get some barley as well........... spring I want to build a grazing frame and grow some kale, cat grass and lemon grass and few other nibbly stuff for them....plus will be planting some chicken friendly plants in the free range area and wire off so it can grow but spread out thru the wire to let them graze off of.....oh and I had started a lil compost area in the free range area for them to scratch thru however with the birdnetting thats not going to be feasable now..but I plan on setting something up in the free range area I havent fenced off yet when it warms up............

 

[hennible]

Brilliant, mom brought me some large ice cream pails like yours. The ice cream store sells them 4 for a dollar in Victoria!

How long does your pail last your chickens?

I do 4 buckets at a time and they last a few weeks with 29 adult chickens... I feed a bit to the five week olds too...

 

[Amberjem]

@BriardChickens would love to see some pictures of how you sprout your barley and such if you wouldnt mind sharing think it would be totally interesting to see and possibly of a benefit to some

 

[vehve]

I haven't seen the point in getting separate feed for the chicks. It's mainly aimed towards commercial production where you try to get the birds to reach a productive state as quickly as possible. For most back yard chicken keepers it rally doesn't matter if it takes a month longer for the bird to start laying, and it might even be beneficial for the birds health to not grow up so quickly. So our chicks just get the same stuff all of the others do too. Of course, layer feed isn't good for chicks, so that should be avoided, but flock raiser is probably fine for everyone. At least that's how I see it.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Hay.... it comes off in slabs about six inches thick from the bale so I divide that slab and give half a flake to each pen.... I save all the leaves that fall off and give them those as well. Our hay comes in very leafy ...

I tried the pellets as in rabbit pellets but they werent interested. Though I may give pellets a try when I start FF. Adding in a scoop to Fermented feed aught to be good.

deb

 

[Amberjem]

oh Yeah I forgot to add.... because there is so little green in the summer here I put out a half a flake of hay in each partition for them to dig in... I buy alfalfa for that for the leaves. Since I was feeding my goats Alfalfa it was a win win. But now that I dont have goats One bale of Alfalfa should last me almost a whole summer...

Though Katee LOVES alfalfa I may start feeding her a flake a day. she normally gets alll the bermuda she wants. Typically the best way to feed horses is Half and half here. Because there is no pasture. Free feed bermuda and then give about a ten pound flake of Alfalfa sometime during the day. It balances out the calcium and phosporous ratio.

Edited to add: For those who don't know about Alfalfa, or Lucern, It is a legume and is very high in protien and minerals.... can be used as a complete feed for both cows and horses... With only an addition of a mineral salt to complete the diet.

Its so rich its often used as a cover crop for fields. Grow it up and bale it for feed Here, in the desert, we can get five or six cuttings off it..... then plow it under to replenish the soil.

deb

I had wanted to plant some alfalfa on the sloops for the chickens to eat then read a few mixed things about it some say it's toxic to chickens ect ect it confuses me to heck and back when they do that... I have tried to compile a list of edible and even ppoisonous plant list and I get one source says fine another says bad...................it's very frustrating

 

[BriardChickens]

@BriardChickens would love to see some pictures of how you sprout your barley and such if you wouldnt mind sharing think it would be totally interesting to see and possibly of a benefit to some

I'll take a row of pictures with the next batch.

I only do small batches...

 

[vehve]

Karin just brought home some hay, I'll have to see if the chickens will eat it. Somehow I have a feeling they'll be a bit picky about it though.

 

[Amberjem]

I haven't seen the point in getting separate feed for the chicks. It's mainly aimed towards commercial production where you try to get the birds to reach a productive state as quickly as possible. For most back yard chicken keepers it rally doesn't matter if it takes a month longer for the bird to start laying, and it might even be beneficial for the birds health to not grow up so quickly. So our chicks just get the same stuff all of the others do too. Of course, layer feed isn't good for chicks, so that should be avoided, but flock raiser is probably fine for everyone. At least that's how I see it.

well my first chickens were chicks and on chick...and everyone was until violet then she got layer lol..........so I had the bag handy ...but my feed store only says there are two chicken feeds..chicks starter and layer...different brands and some medicated or not...but only two kinds

 

[BriardChickens]

Hay.... it comes off in slabs about six inches thick from the bale so I divide that slab and give half a flake to each pen.... I save all the leaves that fall off and give them those as well. Our hay comes in very leafy ...

I tried the pellets as in rabbit pellets but they werent interested. Though I may give pellets a try when I start FF. Adding in a scoop to Fermented feed aught to be good.

deb

Lots of good ideas again today. I'll probably get some weird looks from the feed store guy again, but worth it. I'll be asking him for some alfalfa pellets. They make them for horses if I'm not wrong, are there ingredients they use for horses that aren't good for chickens?