How young is too young to feed greens? Somebody please answer!

[robinaggie]

I fed my BRs wheat grass when they were three days old (I'm really new at this) and they got runny poops. Even with grit. So I held back until they were two weeks, and now any kind of grass is a favorite. I chop it real small so it doesn't clog their crops. They eat it with no problem now.

But they don't like lettuce - just grass.

 

[chiknlittle]

digitS' :

Secondly, I think that they probably shouldn't be going thru that much feed so quickly. I haven't had the Jumbo's so could be wrong here.

On the Missouri State Extension webpage, there is info on the feed requirements of broilers, including "Cumulative feed consumption." By 3 weeks, males should have eaten 770 grams of feed. That's 1.7 pounds . . . 27 x 1.7 = 45.9 pounds.

Are they wasting it? I hope they aren't half-way thru that second 50 pound bag .

Steve

When I started in with chickens my DH looked at me and said, "Why this? You can barely keep a houseplant alive!" Admittedly he is somewhat correct, and I was worried last week when they all started the sneezing episodes and looking quite dead. They're all still with us, but there is so much about raising chickens that I still need to learn. I've been free feeding with a 12 pound galvanized feeder and refilling it when they empty it. It's sitting on top of 3 paver stones and at that height they can easily feed, but there is no billing out. My guess is that I should ration out their food, but that leaves me wondering how much I should feed them. Because I've fed them too much, will they have fattier meat? I don't want to starve them, but I don't want them to have little coronaries either! Is the 1.7 pounds cumulative? If so I feel better. That's 45.9 lbs, and they've maybe eaten another 15. So if you do the math, on average, they've each had about 1/2 pound more food over the course of their short lives than they should've. Is that too much?​

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

There probably been some waste on the ground so I think you are about right. I would leave it in front of them all the time.

 

[chiknlittle]

Now that I think about it, I think they're okay. I did throw out a little bit here and there when they were fouling up the long covered metal feeder. When I switched to the 12 lb galvanized feeder and started putting it up on paver stones they couldn't roost on it and foul it up. I seemed like a lot of food, but there are 27 hungry mouths that haven't had any treats to fill up on instead.

 

[digitS']

Quote:
I think they're doing okay, too - - probably just BIG guys.

Steve