Do Organic chicks grow slower than those feed non organic feed?

[kattitude45]

This is so completely true! We only eat organic and non GMO, I have only had chickens for around 7 months, so I am not a chicken expert. BUT I know the health benefits that my family has seen from avoiding GMO's and pesticide laden foods have been amazing! My flock eats countryside organics layer feed and free range.

I do not think that organic foods have more nutritional value, they may very well have the same vitamins and calories, the difference is that the chemicals in GMO foods have been linked to all sorts of health issues and, IMO are detrimental to our HUMAN health. Please research GMO, monsanto and organic foods guys! If you think there is no difference, than you may just be hurting your families! My 7 yr old ( 8 now) improved leaps and bounds at school, had less ADHD symptoms, more ability to concentrate, and improved tremendously in both HEALTH, and learning as well as seeing improvements in a few other areas that I will not get into on here. I lost 20+ pounds and my DH lost 35-30. This was all came after removing processed foods, GMOs and chemicals from our daily life. It is absolutely undeniable that it improved our lives.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I suspect removing the processed foods had everything to do with that. We are exposed every day just by the air we breathe to so much that eating 'organic' and 'non GMO' to get less toxins (chemicals is not a good term as everything is a chemical. ..including water and air) just really couldn't affect that much. However processed foods contain a lot of added calories and bad fats and almost everything has lots of HFCS which by itself is chemically similar to sugar but when you put it in EVERYTHING it becomes a huge huge issue. I'm glad everyone is feeling better!! I've started making my own bread and milk and water kefir (though there's not a ton of science behind it, but we love the taste and they're healthier than soda and commercial yogurt respectively! ) and I'm starting 3 raised bed gardens this year. I've also started getting meat at the Mexican market because it's local for the most part.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some interesting theories. Here’s mine.

To be healthy a chicken needs a balanced diet of fats, fiber, minerals, vitamins, proteins and all kinds of other nutrients. Certain amino acids are important. There is a range of how much of these they need so you don’t have to hit it extremely precisely, just be in the neighborhood. As long as it is reasonably balanced they should be healthy.

If you want a chick to grow fast and wind up bigger, feed it extra protein. A higher protein diet will cause them to grow faster and bigger. That’s what they do for meat birds and people that show chickens usually feed a pretty high protein diet so they will grow bigger. Judges like that.

I personally prefer a chicken to grow a little slower rather than the body size outpace its skeleton and internal organ development. I don’t think a bigger chicken is necessarily a healthier chicken. I kinda like mine a bit more wiry and athletic. But that’s personal preference.

I’ve only read about 2/3 of the posts so maybe someone else mentioned it and I didn’t see it, but I suggest the OP look at how many grams of protein the other people are feeding their chicks versus what hers are getting. I can’t tell how much the OP’s chicks and chickens forage. If they have good quality forage they probably are not going to eat a really high protein diet but they will be likely to have a good balanced diet.

I think the consistent difference in growth rate is not due to secret ingredients or anything evil added to commercial feed. I think it is as simple as they are eating more protein each day. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are healthier, just that they grow faster and probably wind up bigger.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

WOW thank you very much for the detailed write up.  Actually I did feed Scratch and Peck last year 2013, it was 2012 that I feed this mix.  Currenlty with my hens I have 2 food containers out for them and I feed them one of each (my mix) and (scratch and peck mix.) As chicks I also gave them scrambled eggs, weeds from the yard with dirt clumps, grit, etc. I heard giving them canned sardines or tuna was good but I didnt do that.  I will be hatching my own chicks this year for the first time and I planned on fermenting the scratch and peck starter feed. Oh I also gave them mealworms for about a month until I ran out, haha.

WOW interesting about the light!!  I was planning on buying a Ecoglow 50 for my new hatches and I was thinking that was a big advantage they would be able to have darkness at night and sleep. Although when I did use the light bulb at least is was a red one not a bright white one.  I think the EcogLow will be great for letting them sleep!  I cant wait to see if that will do it for me this time. I am good about updateing my posts so I will let you know.  I plan to ferment and have a ecoglow, teo things I have not done before and I cant wait to see if that makes all the difference!

So it sounds like you fed the babies a diet that was a bit lacking in necessary amino acids and were getting too much light and that's probably what slowed their growth if I'm understanding what you and spangled are saying correctly. But I think using the different feed and ecoglow would help the issue immensely!

 

[Ariel188]

thank you again so much for your advice.

 

[Ariel188]

straight from the horses mouth. Somebody who made the change and saw the difference and the difference in their child. Awesome! Thank you for sharing.