How much Food do Baby Chicks need a Day

[NatJ]

You should fill their feeder daily and have it out at all times, they are growing chicks and will ale what they need

For the new ones, yes.
The previous ones turned out to be meat birds who DID need limited food.

 

[nao57]

The only time I remove feed is at night. It is to keep rodents out of the feed. First thing I do even before pouring my coffee is feed my birds every day 365 days a year.

This is a really interesting idea!

I'm sure some of the others are from areas that have more rodents than others. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[nao57]

You can use a growth by weight table for chics to tell how much feed you are going to spend on young chics. You just basically take the weight gain figure and then figure that its a range of 2x to 2.5x of that.

 

[nao57]

NJ is the same 2 ducks or 4 chicks.

Some places hit you with 'small order' fees also.

 

[nao57]

What kind of “treats“ would make chickens fat? Mine get all my fruit and veggie scraps. I’m assuming this would not contribute to weight gain?

Fruits and vegetables shouldn't bother them. What would bother them is 'junk food'; stuff their bodies aren't built to handle.

 

[nao57]

That's TSC's policy. In my area, 6 is the minimum you can buy at TSC. And yea, folks, TSC employees, for the most part, are ignorant as to what types of chicks are, so unless they're clearly marked on the shipping boxes they receive the chicks in, they have absolutely NO idea of what they have, and WILL mis-label them. I've gone in and said, nope, that's NOT what those are! Told them what they DID have.

I would suggest that rather than getting the minimum, you could go with a big enough order to eliminate the extra charges for small orders.

And having a few more can help because; you will probably lose some. And then you'll also have to pull out the roos.

 

[NatJ]

I would suggest that rather than getting the minimum, you could go with a big enough order to eliminate the extra charges for small orders.

TSC is Tractor Supply Company. It's a physical store--you just walk in and buy stuff, including chicks. But they will not sell you a single chick. They say you must buy 6 or more chicks at a time. No small order charge, just a minimum number to purchase.

Ordering directly from a hatchery, to have chicks mailed to you, is when you get stuck with small order charges (because they have to pack chicks differently if they are mailing small numbers of chicks.)

And getting more than 6 would not make sense for a person who already wants less than that!

 

[nao57]

TSC is Tractor Supply Company. It's a physical store--you just walk in and buy stuff, including chicks. But they will not sell you a single chick. They say you must buy 6 or more chicks at a time. No small order charge, just a minimum number to purchase.

Ordering directly from a hatchery, to have chicks mailed to you, is when you get stuck with small order charges (because they have to pack chicks differently if they are mailing small numbers of chicks.)

And getting more than 6 would not make sense for a person who already wants less than that!

I agree.

But you'll lose some. Your city won't let you keep roos. You'll have an accident too. Everyone does. So if you go with a small number you might end up with nothing left. I just read an account like that of someone saying they had 4 originally, and then 3 were roos.

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

If your feeding Cornish X version as meat birds, they will continue to eat and get overly fat. Sometimes to the point of not being able to walk. A limit is advisable. Also free range will slow that feed rate up.

 

[CHlCKEN]

For the new ones, yes.
The previous ones turned out to be meat birds who DID need limited food.

Oh! Sorry I’ve never raised meat birds and did not consider that