Growth enhancing food for chicks

[winniecash]

For my science project i'm doing "Will natural food enhance growth over store bought pellets" I've been doing research on what people feed "meat birds" to excel growth (I'm NOT sending the to get slaughtered). Anyway I just wanted to know if anybody had sugestions or any good sources. Thank You

 

[Kelsie2290]

You might want to check out some of the meat bird threads like the one on fermenting feed for meat birds
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds and check out some of the other feed threads in the meat birds section https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/21/meat-birds-etc

 

[winniecash]

thank you!

 

[RichnSteph]

Just some more food for thought. If you truly want to find out if the natural diet of chickens (i.e. worms, grubs, etc..) are better for the birds than "store food" then I'd recommend looking at a "meal worm farm" and a "black soldier fly farm". Both seem to be easy to make from various materials and both are self replicating. The black soldier flies are great to use in a compost pile from what I've read. If you only have a few birds you could feed one set on nothing but the grubs and free range while the others could be fed on plain feed. Whether you ferment the feed or not might sway your results since the FF tends to put weight on birds quickly.

What are your parameters for the experiment? Just weight gain? General/overall health of the birds?


Caveat here is that I currently don't have either of the above mentioned farms. Through hours of reading and research I will have one of each though.

 

[winniecash]

would this work for baby chicks? and thanks for the idea it sounds great!

 

[nelmsy]

I would like my birds to grow tall what should I feed them

 

[LindaB220]

For my science project i'm doing "Will natural food enhance growth over store bought pellets" I've been doing research on what people feed "meat birds" to excel growth (I'm NOT sending the to get slaughtered). Anyway I just wanted to know if anybody had sugestions or any good sources. Thank You

Hey Winnie, welcome. Yes, I've been on the forum for 9 months and the biggest discovery I've found has been the fermented feed thread. There are several. I know that my birds are healthy, growing great and are happy. I use a mixture of grains and starter. But will switch to total grains shortly. They are 7 wks old now. Also, check into sprouting for extra nutrient. Good luck

 

[WI_Red]

 

[3riverschick]

For my science project i'm doing "Will natural food enhance growth over store bought pellets"
I've been doing research on what people feed "meat birds" to excel growth (I'm NOT sending
the to get slaughtered). Anyway I just wanted to know if anybody had suggestions or any good
sources. Thank You

Ok, first you need to define what "natural food" is. Do you mean just letting them free range and find whatever they can find?
Do you mean gathering those natural feeds and feeding them to the birds in dishes? What constitutes "natural foods" ?
Is a sprouted oat a "natural food"? Or is it "manmade" because you sprouted it? Is "natural" mean no commercial additives
in it? No commercial chemicals in it? Broilers and layers are raised differently. You have a tough row to hoe because these
commercial pellets are a scientifically complete balanced diet. So somehow you need to prove that "natural foods" are superior
to a diet which cost millions to develop.
I think you should go to the organic folk. I think that's where you might find answers.
There's a farmer down in the Shenandoah Valley named Joe Salatin . He's big into "back to the earth". Has written some books. maybe some help there. http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ and his book:
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/2011/07/25/pastured-poultry-profits/ ( focus on meat birds)
If you are going to go up against the big boys of commercial feed, you need a trusted organic
method to use. One that has been proven to succeed for the birds, even if it hasn't been tested against the commercial feeds.

You need an organic system to test against the big boys. Maybe you want to make your own
organic chicken feed and test it against a commeical pellet?
Organic created mixed feed against commercial mixed feed pellet. Or you could compare
eating lifestyle ( pastured poultry http://www.apppa.org/ ) against commercial feed.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5137841_make-organic-chicken-feed.html
There are a bazillion recipes for homemade organic chicken feed out there. That could be real interesting and
you might come upon a new kind of ration or combination in your recipe. You could check around and see if it would
be more relevant to use broilers or layers. Frankly, most people are raising layers now. If you choose meat birds,
don't use Cornish crosses. They tend to have heart attacks and die unless carefully managed. Pick a popular breed
that's easy to manage. You can choose the breed after you decide if you want to study meat birds, layers or dual purpose birds. If you go the pastured poultry route you need to have a large enough piece of ground to make it worth while. Or somehow come up with a substitute for that large piece of ground.
Sounds like a real interesting project!
Best Regards,
Karen in western PA