Greener Pasutres Recipe is preferred over chick starter

[pbuckler]

I just picked up 3 barred rock and 3 cornish X chicks on Wednesday from Estes Hatchery. I picked up 5lbs of their chick starter while I was there. When I got home I put a small bowl of the Greener Pastures recipe that I soaked for a few hours in the brooder along with the feeder full of the chick starter. They haven't even touched the chick starter yet! They have been too busy eating all the Greener Pastures recipe! I had to put the small bowl of the Greener Pastures inside the feeder because they were standing inside the bowl and the Cornish chicks were bullying the Barred Rocks a bit. Now they have easier access to the feed. The picture is a birds eye view of the setup. Obviously the Greener Pastures is at the bottom of the picture where the chicks are congregated. You can sort of make out the glass bowl inside the feeder. I decided to use a bowl since I soaked the grains and didn't want a moisture problem. I just sprinkled a bit of the dry Greener Pasutres mix over the chick starter hoping to get them to mix it up.

Here is the link to the Greener Pastures Recipe.

 

[fargosmom]

That looks like some premium chow - lucky chicks!! I'd like to try this but I'm not sure where I'd get all the ingredients, or where I'd store it all . . . how do you manage it?

 

[Tala]

Where do you get all that stuff??

 

[oparea]

that's what I was thinking

 

[thornoelle]

Me too! I would love to make it if I could find the stuff.

 

[Fay at Frizzled Feathers]

Thanks for the link , my have to try that if i can gather all the ingredience at the feed mills around here.

 

[pbuckler]

I was able to get everything at my local health food store.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Hmm well I can't afford to shop there for myself, so I guess it's regular old chicken feed for the birds.

 

[pbuckler]

On average I spent around $1.50 a pound on the organic whole grain. Compared to the $1.25 per pound non-organic chick starter my hatchery sold me, the extra expense was nominal.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
For just one kind of grain??

cos I'm looking at this list

2 parts whole corn (in winter this is increased to 3 or 4 parts)
3 parts soft white wheat
3 parts hard red winter wheat
1 part hulled barley
1 part oat groats
1 part sunflower seeds (in winter this is increased to 2 parts)
1 part millet
1 part kamut
1 part amaranth seeds
1 part split peas
1 part lentils
1 part quinoa
1 part sesame seeds
1/2 part flax seeds
1/2 part kelp granules

Thinking it's probably a minimum purchase of 5lbs per type of grain (or does it come in bins where you can scoop what u need?) and at $7.50 per type of grain ($1.50/lb per 5lb package, just guessing here using your average cost) times 20 ingredients (times 5lbs per "part") that's $150 for roughly 100lbs of chick food. That's certainly not going to save me any money.​