Feeding Meat Chicks

[MtAsadi]

Right now I have eight layers on fermented wild bird food, scratch, liver or heart three days a week, kitchen scraps, grit, oyster shell, and trace mineral salt. I am getting meat chicks soon and want to know if they can handle the seeds of the wild food and scratch as well as if they can eat meat from the beginning? They obviously would be getting meat much more often than my layers.

 

[rainbowrooster]

Chicken feed would be a good place to start especially feed formulated for meat birds. Although meat birds are obviously chickens they are quite different than layers. I would recommend a feed that is made specifically for them.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I agree with rainbowrooster. Cornishx birds are bred to grow super fast, and have very precise nutritional needs that must be met, or the outcome is likely to be even worse than usual with these chicks. They are meant to be killed at eight weeks of age, not much older, and are not likely to be able to self- regulate their nutritional needs with this type of diet. Mary