My Chicks are getting older!! questions on feeding!

[Chicken7777]

Hello everyone. Well my chicks are already two months old! I bought them for Ideal poultry two months ago(they were born on Nov 5th)

i would appreciate any tips, or advice i might need to know that might be essential to know now that they are getting older.

I have noticed that my chickens are eating feed at a faster rate now. and wanted to know what is the estimated amount of feed in pounds that is correctly to feed 13 chickens in one month( pounds per chicken a day or week would be great to know!) and also hw many times a day should i feed? i heard once in the morning and once in the evening, is this correct?

I have 3 golden sex links, 2 red sex link, 2 white rocks, 3 easter eggers(two of which are going to be sold this month to make some room for more chickens) and 3 cornish crosses(these are like pets!)

Also one thing i was wondering is that maybe instead of buying bags of feed in tractor supply i should maybe buy wholesale. Does anyone know where i might be able to buy wholesale feed-more feed for less money
(stores, suggestions?)? (in the orlando area would be great)

Also what would be a great way to feed chickens another type of foodsource to also save money on feed? I feed them extra leftover rice( i clean the rice before i feed them), some weeds that i have available, and lettuce.

I appreciate the help with this, thank you very much!

 

[flakey chick]

I don't think I would bother wholesale, but ANY other feedstore has got to be cheaper than TSC. ALSO I found that when my chicks had the TSC brand, they ate and pooped more, and it didn't look that much different going out than coming in. When I bought a purina feed from a local feed store, they ate less (eventhough they were older), pooped less, and seemed to be doing fine. That alone should save you some $$$ in the feed department.

As far as supplementing their food, be very careful about giving them too much starch. It's like giving children too much candy. Bugs and grass are great supplements if you can let them range a bit. Mine love to get bugs out of the compost heap.

 

[jhm47]

Your three Cornish crosses are more than likely eating nearly as much as the entire rest of the flock. Cornish are fast growin', eatin' machines. Do they just plunk themselves down near the feeder and eat nearly constantly? The ones I've had (many over the years) grew at a phenominal rate till they were butchered. If I let them grow much past their optimum size, they invariably died from heart attacks, or their legs gave out. They rarely live very long, no matter what you do.

 

[Chicken7777]

I know that is another reason for the food. The thing is i am doing a kind of home experiment in seeing how cornish crosses behave, and are without being butchered...its little experiment of mine

The problem is i would feel bad to have to butcher them to eat, nor i want to sell them because i know where they are going to go........in the pot!

Well any suggestions would be great!

thanks again!

 

[flakey chick]

If you would feel bad about the cornish X being killed, then you MUST reduce their feed. jhm47 is right about the problems they will have if grown past their prime (and allowed free access to food). Essentially they have an eatting disorder that will hurt them more than a quick death if allowed to eat all they want.

 

[vfem]

Quote:
Well with what they were raised for they are going to get very unhealthy and probably have a lot of damage internally once they reach butcher age. I'm afraid they will never live long happy lives. Blame it on bad genes

You're going to have to cut back on feeding on your own though... might have to be like a dog where you have to pick up their bowl every now and then. Only offer food when you are sure how much they are getting.

I also stopped purchasing at TSC, but its only because I found a close feed store. Their purina brand is the same price as TSC. It just seems to last longer.