Feeding day old Peachicks

[PavoFowl]

As a soon-to-be new owner of day old peachicks. I have seen many different opinions on feed from various websites.

I would love to hear your personal experiences and ideas as far as feeding.

I am currently going back and forth for either 20% or 24% Starter, definitely medicated w/ amprolium.

What do you feed?

 

[DylansMom]

As a soon-to-be new owner of day old peachicks. I have seen many different opinions on feed from various websites.

I would love to hear your personal experiences and ideas as far as feeding.

I am currently going back and forth for either 20% or 24% Starter, definitely medicated w/ amprolium.

What do you feed?

I just went and rechecked, I lied to you!

The starter I use is actually 18% not 20%. I switched to the lowest protein medicated starter I could find at TSC. This is what I fed all our babies from 2013 with no adverse affects. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[casportpony]

DylansMom makes a good point about 24/7 access to a high protein feed, which is what I feed mine (26.5%), but I brood mine under chicken hens or a Brinsea Eco-Glo 50 hot plate, so they sleep when it's dark instead of eating 24/7 like they would with a heat lamp.

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

DylansMom makes a good point about 24/7 access to a high protein feed, which is what I feed mine (26.5%), but I brood mine under chicken hens or a Brinsea Eco-Glo 50 hot plate, so they sleep when it's dark instead of eating 24/7 like they would with a heat lamp.

-Kathy

My first round of incubator hatched chicks were fatties! I didn't even see it until I was looking at pictures I took of them and they looked like little round balls of feathers with stick legs. Their tibias started to twist and I taped their legs for 4 weeks straight and of course immediately started to pull food out overnight. The ones with the twisting legs did recover and we didn't have a single case of it in the later chicks, they were just getting too heavy too quickly.

 

[casportpony]

DylansMom makes a good point about 24/7 access to a high protein feed, which is what I feed mine (26.5%), but I brood mine under chicken hens or a Brinsea Eco-Glo 50 hot plate, so they sleep when it's dark instead of eating 24/7 like they would with a heat lamp.


-Kathy

My first round of incubator hatched chicks were fatties! I didn't even see it until I was looking at pictures I took of them and they looked like little round balls of feathers with stick legs. Their tibias started to twist and I taped their legs for 4 weeks straight and of course immediately started to pull food out overnight. The ones with the twisting legs did recover and we didn't have a single case of it in the later chicks, they were just getting too heavy too quickly.

Wow, four weeks of tape? Glad they recovered! Curiously, did you weigh any of them when they were fat?

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

Wow, four weeks of tape? Glad they recovered! Curiously, did you weigh any of them when they were fat?

-Kathy

No I didn't weigh them. But once I actually noticed it and started to really study them with a more clinical eye, I noticed a lot of things. They just looked different than the hen raised chicks, The hen raised ones were taller and thinner, they had a sleeker look to them, the incubated ones always looked like their feathers were a bit mussed. They were also nowhere near as fast, agile or athletic as the hen raised ones. They were little chubby couch potato peas! When the tibias started to twist, I freaked, I had guinea keets 2 years ago that I traded pea eggs for and half ended up crippled from twisted tibia, they had to be put down and 1 was killed by my neighbors chickens. Those keets came to me with the tibias already in bad shape and I knew nothing about the condition then. I did a lot of research this time around and the high protein kept popping up as well as the fact that the heavier a bird was and the faster it grew the more common twisted tibia was. Ostrich, emu, rhea, geese, turkeys, peas, guineas, and in chickens the broilers all are prone to it. Slowing down the growth and weight gain seems to be key to preventing it. And yes 4 weeks was a long struggle, my 8 yr old was an immense help, we wrapped 6 birds legs at 7pm every night and unwrapped at 7am. After 4 weeks they had gotten so strong they had their legs loose by the time we went to unwrap. Supposedly the struggling against the tape binding the legs helps straighten the bones. Whatever it does it worked, all look perfectly normal and show no sign of ever having a problem.

 

[PavoFowl]

@casportpony , do you know if there is a way to tell if they are getting too little protein? I see that 24% (or higher!) is the norm for them, because they need more than the average chicken, but I don't want to ruin their legs, or deprive them of protein.
I plan to use heat lamps, too. They're easy and convenient. I hope it doesn't sleep deprive the birds or something ..

I planned to feed the keets a 20% starter, and the peas a 24%, however I am also hearing of that being too much protein. Do you think the peas could be okay on 24% if only fed during the day? If not, should I feed both keets and peas the 20%?

 

[SunBaked]

@casportpony , do you know if there is a way to tell if they are getting too little protein? I see that 24% (or higher!) is the norm for them, because they need more than the average chicken, but I don't want to ruin their legs, or deprive them of protein.
I plan to use heat lamps, too. They're easy and convenient. I hope it doesn't sleep deprive the birds or something ..

I planned to feed the keets a 20% starter, and the peas a 24%, however I am also hearing of that being too much protein. Do you think the peas could be okay on 24% if only fed during the day? If not, should I feed both keets and peas the 20%?

As far as heat lamps go what I do is wrap them in a loose towel at bedtime and put them next to the heat light with enough room to get further or closer so they don't overheat. I'm very hands on with my chicks so they stay tame. I find doing that helps them stay on a normal sleep schedule and also keeps them quiet at night which is nice because I keep them in the house brooder for the first month or so. When I started tucking them in at night 2 years ago there was a pretty noticeable overall improvement in them.

 

[PavoFowl]

You wrap the heat lamp in a towel?

 

[DylansMom]

You wrap the heat lamp in a towel?

Pretty sure they are swaddling the chicks not the heat lamp, but it does kind of come across that way. I never tried it with my chicks, but it worked great on my son, put him to sleep in a wink.