How early can you feed chicks homemade chicken feed?

[drink88]

Looking to find out when you can start feeding your chicks (1 month old egg layers and 3 week old meat chickens) homemade chicken feed (corn, peas, flax, barley, wheat, etc). As long as I keep the protein level where it needs to be, is there any draw backs to getting them off starter feed and on to more natural feed?

 

[azygous]

Chick starter feed is practically identical to an all-flock feed. While both are commercial feeds, they are formulated to contain all of the vitamins and minerals and protein that chickens require. I believe there are no "unnatural" ingredients in them.

It's perfectly fine to mix your own feed, however, as long as you take into account balanced nutritional needs. But there is one issue you need to address if your recipe includes whole grains. That is grit to digest them. Provide appropriate chick grit and you'll have that covered as long as the chicks are old enough to be able to handle the larger particles in your homemade feed.

 

[drink88]

Chick starter feed is practically identical to an all-flock feed. While both are commercial feeds, they are formulated to contain all of the vitamins and minerals and protein that chickens require. I believe there are no "unnatural" ingredients in them.

It's perfectly fine to mix your own feed, however, as long as you take into account balanced nutritional needs. But there is one issue you need to address if your recipe includes whole grains. That is grit to digest them. Provide appropriate chick grit and you'll have that covered as long as the chicks are old enough to be able to handle the larger particles in your homemade feed.

Nice, exactly what I was looking for. Do you happen to know where to get grit? I'm headed to the feed store later today, I'll see if they have it. I found a video on YT where she breaks down nutrients and weight and all that, so you know you're getting the right amount of food and nutrients...but didn't think about grit. Much appreciated.

 

[azygous]

Chick grit is sold at farm stores. Chick grit is about the consistency of sand or rough gravel. Adult chicken grit is larger, about pear size. Be sure to get the smaller chick grit.

And do not confuse grit with oyster shell which is sometimes mis-stated as grit. It won't act as grit in the chicken as oyster shell would dissolve.

 

[BastyPutt]

We have mixed our own food for awhile and it did take some time to get it right.

You'll want to add a balancer in there. This was the biggest mistake we made initially. It is mainly vitamins every chicken needs, and you can find them in all natural derivatives as well if that is what you are after.

Important to consider as well that your meat birds are going to need more protein than your laying flock, eventually. If your recipe has millet in there, you can just increase its ratio and that is probably good

 

[Penpal]

Before stocking up on grains, consider what's in each. I do not feed barley. Quinoa seeds are small enough for wee chicks, but bigger birds like it too. Quinoa has high protein content when compared to other things like corn, oats, wheat. It also has a shorter soaking time.

Maggots and worms are highest nutrition followed by quinoa. Then amaranth, oats, sunflower seeds. After that comes Hopi Blue Corn, Einkorn wheat, brown rice. After that, corn and barley. You'll want to soak all of them to take out the anti-nutrients.

Amaranth must be soaked because it contains phloxidzin.

 

[Vince008]

Nice, exactly what I was looking for. Do you happen to know where to get grit? I'm headed to the feed store later today, I'll see if they have it. I found a video on YT where she breaks down nutrients and weight and all that, so you know you're getting the right amount of food and nutrients...but didn't think about grit. Much appreciated.

Where or what was the video name on youtube? i would to see that video.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Chick grit is sold at farm stores. Chick grit is about the consistency of sand or rough gravel. Adult chicken grit is larger, about pear size. Be sure to get the smaller chick grit.

And do not confuse grit with oyster shell which is sometimes mis-stated as grit. It won't act as grit in the chicken as oyster shell would dissolve.

Adult grit is pea sized, pear sized would be terrifying
You can get grit, and oyster shell later when they start to lay, from feed stores or online from Amazon etc

 

[azygous]

"Pear" size. I'd bet a dollar that auto-correct sneaked in with that gem. On my old Apple laptop, I turned off auto-correct because the "corrections" were just too idiotic for words. I got a new laptop this summer and the auto-correct is much more helpful, and before I've even finished misspelling a word, it's leaped in with the correction. It literally thinks faster than I do, and is correct ninety-five percent of the time. But then the laptop is months old while my brain is much, much, much older.

 

[Sally PB]

Please look into amino acid amounts and requirements when you make home made feed, especially for methionine and lysine. These play a critical role in the internal development of chicks' bodies.