feed quantity

[AdrAD]

Hello ladies and gents,
I am looking for a good and precise table or growth curve of the quantity of feed to give young chicks on the first 3 months (and more) of life. Also, it would be cool to have another curve on the average growth in size and length of chicks if possible. The tables on the feed quantity I've found lack details and just go for the same quantity for the first 8 weeks, or just say "ad libitum". Same for the chicks growth, it's too general. Could somebody help me out please ? If there are already topics on this (just havn't found them), can you link me to it please ?

AD.

 

[BDutch]

This is an impossible question. How much feed chicks needs depends on too many things like:

• Breed (bantam/normal/big/broiler
• Quality of the feed and extras/free ranging.
• Temperature and temperament

Just give the chicks as much chick feed as they want. They don’t overeat unless you have broilers.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

x2, unlike dogs and cats, there is no proportion for best health, instead you give chicks "all you can eat," for optimum health.

 

[mcdze]

agreed, lots of variables .. quality of food plays a large role, more than quantity .. chickens tend to adjust a bit to the quantity, so it doesnt have to be unlimited, but it does need to be quality and regular intervals .. the goal is to acheive rapid growth in the first couple of months so theyre less susceptible to mishaps and are more independent .. way i see it .. and in the warmer months anyway, i cut food back for mature birds that have access to range .. they need to get out there and work for it lol, not hang around all day waiting for a handout ...

 

[AdrAD]

I see. Well thanks for the feedbacks. I'm trying to reduce the quantity of industrial feed given to the young chicks. So I wanted to find indicators that would help me balance industrial fermented feed I use with forage and diffrents nutritive herbs (spinach, amaranthus, tithonia, etc). For that I'd lile to know how much fermented feed to give them more or less precisely so I can replace up to 15% of it with greens (leaves, herbs, forage, etc). They are reluctant to eat the chopped greens I give them though, and prefer the industrial feed.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I see. Well thanks for the feedbacks. I'm trying to reduce the quantity of industrial feed given to the young chicks. So I wanted to find indicators that would help me balance industrial fermented feed I use with forage and diffrents nutritive herbs (spinach, amaranthus, tithonia, etc). For that I'd lile to know how much fermented feed to give them more or less precisely so I can replace up to 15% of it with greens (leaves, herbs, forage, etc). They are reluctant to eat the chopped greens I give them though, and prefer the industrial feed.

Thats because the industrial feed has everything they need, which the greens likely don't

 

[RubelliteRose]

They are reluctant to eat the chopped greens I give them though, and prefer the industrial feed.

While all my chickens like their commercial feed, they are very picky when it comes to greens. I can't think of anything besides basic grass that they all will eat. Some like clover, some do not. Some like squash leaves, some do not. Some like oregano, most do not.....
Will they be free ranging? Even though each bird has their own preferences, I am generally able to reduce the amount of commercial feed by 1/3 to 1/2 during the spring and summer when they are out free ranging more hours during the day.

 

[nuthatched]

I see. Well thanks for the feedbacks. I'm trying to reduce the quantity of industrial feed given to the young chicks. So I wanted to find indicators that would help me balance industrial fermented feed I use with forage and diffrents nutritive herbs (spinach, amaranthus, tithonia, etc). For that I'd lile to know how much fermented feed to give them more or less precisely so I can replace up to 15% of it with greens (leaves, herbs, forage, etc). They are reluctant to eat the chopped greens I give them though, and prefer the industrial feed.

Spinach has vitamin blockers, it's not great for chickens. Many plants do so you might want to look into that.
Your growing birds are going to need about 20% protein, that's going to be difficult to obtain with easily obtained herbs and grasses. Chickens aren't made to exist so much on grasses, they lack teeth and/or an advanced digestion system to fully process the grass to extract the nutrients from it.
The fodder may have the nutrition, but they can't take advantage of it.
Grasses also arent nutritionally dense, if the chicks eat until their crops are full, they still only be eating sub standard nutrition.