Is this Marek's?

[HeidiGetsChicks]

There are two different schools of thought about feeding chickens.
One is that anything other then chicken feed are treats, and to many treats are bad for their health. The other is that chicken food is to processed, and a better health comes from a more natural diet.
The first is more fool proof, and as your cockerel maybe be having vitamin deficiencies it would be worth a try cutting out anything else that could be adding to the problem.
Other then that, you need to make up your own mind as to what way you want to go with, but imo the best is half way in-between.
Making a balanced diet all on your own is very hard! (harder then it used to be, because chickens used to be a part of a big farm, with a lot more spilled food and stuff from other animals, so they could balance out themselves, and also modern chicken breeds need better food because they lay more eggs)

Great explanation, thank you!

 

[Kiki]

Well I'm not hundreds of years old, that's for sure. My family raised chickens on what they could forage for themselves and whatever table scraps we gave them, no daytime predator protection, and no internet to ask these sorts of questions on. For us, yes it was that simple, the hens raised their own chicks and it was survival of the fittest for whomever could escape the hawks and falcons.

Now as an adult living in the US and being responsible for my own chickens for the first time I realize things are different, that's why I'm asking all the dumb questions to understand the "why" of it. I don't have an attachment to the way things were done hundreds of years ago, but since that literally *is* my prior frame of reference I might mention it from time to time so that those informing me can get a sense of where the gaps in my knowledge might be.

I appreciate the response!

I'm sure there are many things that are different if you try to compare your flock with your family's.

The breed of bird is probably a major difference.