Looking for homemade chick feed recipe

[maxpedley]

Yes, that is what I use. But I add extra stuff to the egg.

Here is my home made chick food recipe:

1. Hard boil several large eggs.
2. Mash them all up (with shells on) until they are in fine pieces.
3. Use some stale wholemeal bread and break it up, then add to the egg mixture.
4. Use you fingers to rub it all together until it gets like breadcrumbs.

The final mixture should be fairy dry and crumbly.

I made a lot up, and freeze it. Then take enough out to last a few days each time. Saves me having to keep boiling up eggs.

As the chicks grow you can add all sorts to the mix...
grated carrot
Finely chopped broccoli
Leafy greens,
and eventually some kitchen scraps.

Once the chicks are feathering out you can put them in a chicken tractor and move it about each day so they get to eat fresh weeds, grass and insects.

Yes, adding bread crumbs would also work well, however I would not feed the chicks on it until they are a couple of weeks old. Also I'm not sure if I'm right or wrong but I read somewhere that when you feed bread to poultry you should soak it.

 

[Stewarts]

That's rather impressive to raise all those birds that way, Maxpedley. Do you free range your birds as well and feed fruits and vegetables? I free range mine from dry spring to late fall.

 

[maxpedley]

Free ranged every day except a handfull of weekends in Summer. I only feed them half of a normal chickens ration and they find the rest for themselves. I sometimes feed them windfall apples and plums but they eat a lot of worms, maggots etc. and lots of grass.

 

[Stewarts]

Good idea to cut back on the feed if they are free ranging full time.

 

[maxpedley]

If I were to feed them a full ration they wouldn't forage as much, and also their eggs taste nicer when they find more of their own food. The ducks barely eat anything I give them. They feed mainly on worms and slugs and anything else they can find in the mud.

 

[Stewarts]

Ya, the eggs are much better and healthier for humans if they forage on their own.

 

[jak2002003]

Yes, adding bread crumbs would also work well, however I would not feed the chicks on it until they are a couple of weeks old. Also I'm not sure if I'm right or wrong but I read somewhere that when you feed bread to poultry you should soak it.

As the bread is mixed in with the egg is gets moist and soggy from the water in the egg, so when they eat its not too dry, and it will slide down nicely.

Feeding dry bread to ducklings can be dangerous if they eat it dry without dabbling it in the water as it can get stuck on the way down.

Feeding dry bread to adult chickens and other birds will not be dangerous, but its easier for chicks to eat if its moist.

Bread is a very useful food to bulk out the eggs. It has many minerals and vitamins added to it to make it more nutritious for humans, including added calcium, iron and vitamin B1, and nicotinic acid - all of which will be good for growing chicks.

 

[maxpedley]

I'll keep that in mind for this spring when it comes to hatching. Also now that I think of it, what I read about the bread was for ducks and not chickens.

 

[chicNlove]

Thank you all for the info...it is very helpful to read what works for all of you.