Homemade chick starter

[two j farm]

My local feed store is the same and it is a shame.
They are 10 minutes from my house. They only carry 2 kinds of feed and it is usually old. They won't special order anything. I went in 5 years ago to get some vitamins. The packages had expired 2 years earlier. I told them about it and they said, "OK". Those packages are still on the shelf today. They just wait for some unsuspecting customer to buy old crap - overpriced at that.

Yes it is a safe, cozy, friendly place to be crazy.

Sounds like my feed store, I can't really get anything but feed for chicken from them. They have more stuff for cows and horses then anything. Just about every house I pass around here has chickens and other people have asked them to get more chicken stuff or even sell chicks but nope not going to do it.

 

[Mosey2003]

Sounds like my feed store, I can't really get anything but feed for chicken from them. They have more stuff for cows and horses then anything. Just about every house I pass around here has chickens and other people have asked them to get more chicken stuff or even sell chicks but nope not going to do it.

You would be in a good position to put up a flyer where your local folks will most likely see it and see if you can't form an informal co-op in order to get feed drop-shipped, or even to split the driving to the 2 hour away store.

I can't believe how crappy some of your guys' feed stores are! Heck, even my grain elevator/Co-Op will order me basically anything I want, provided I'm willing to wait for truck day.

 

[Rattlerjake]

Borrow a trailer or take yours and make the trip. I agree with the above poster, the feed shop is making the poor choice, no need to support them unless you have to.

And albumen is mostly water, actually. But I know what you are getting at, and if I were adding the egg yoldk for the macronutrients(fat, protein, carbs), I would include the albumen and cook it. But since I am not adding it for the fats and proteins, I do not. Cooking destroys a lot of vitamins, denatures proteins(inactivates enzymes, destroys antibodies).

I don't and never have used commercial chick starters. I raise blackfly larvae and grow microgreens. I also buy bulk grain from local farmers and grind them in a mill, and sometimes I grind up cheap ol Roy kibble dog food to mix in it. I also ferment some of the grains, dry them, then grind them too (great for pre and probiotics. My feed costs half or less than commercial feed and both adults and chicks do well on it. Just have to add oystershell/eggshell for layers. There are options, it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it and whether that effort makes a major difference in cost.