- Mar 19, 2010
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Its time for another 50 lb bag of feed which lasts our chickens for a while. I asked someone this question before, but my chicks were still kind of young, and I just remember that I was advised to give them the chick starter feed for a while longer because it had higher protein. I have since put them on "premium layyer crumbles", which seems fine, although to me the hens still appear a little "skinnier" looking than I would like, but maybe its just because they are Silkies and not meat birds, I don't know. I should mention that in addition to free-choice feed, they also free range in the yard all day, and I usually throw out a handful of cracked corn as a treat, which I understand has a very low percentage of protein. Anyway I went to the feed store and ended up leaving without any feed because there were so many different choices and they didn't have the kind I had bought last time. I just thought, well I'll go back home and look at the bag of feed I last bought and see what percent protein it has. And as luck would have it, its not on the bag itself but on a tag which has long since come off and been thrown away. : ( Soooo, could someone tell me what they think the appropriate percentage of protein should the feed for my Silkies contain? It appears that I have 16%, 18% and something higher like 21 0r 22% (that says on the bag its for meat birds), to choose from. Thanks much for your help/suggestions! : )
