My chicks are panicking due to hunger (they seem to be quite picky)

[centrarchid]

cukuriku,



I have checked several of the threads you have participated in and became frustrated. Step up and provide meaningful information. Where are you? What types of animals are produced / farmed in your area? What resources do you have for your chickens? This includes time you have to devote to them.

 

[cukuriku]

Let birds out to free-range assuming you have the land. They will eat cooked fish regardless of size. Make certain they are getting grit.


What country are you in that makes all this so difficult?

We let them free range on our tiled yard lol, i guess that answer brings us to answer the next question, Im actually in Israel, and my town is more like city life (although not majorly busy, but similar enough to city life). There are loads of apartment builings and pretty much no farms, ranches, or any of that stuff. The few in this town that there are of those kinds of things are petting zoos, but thats about it and believe it or not, they have about everything but chickens. Chickens maybe they have one or two of, but they dont officially raise them. Therefore, we decided to be brave despite the difficulties and raise our little guys in this city. Clear enough explanation? lol, im curious to know wat ur reaction will be...

 

[cukuriku]

cukuriku,



I have checked several of the threads you have participated in and became frustrated. Step up and provide meaningful information. Where are you? What types of animals are produced / farmed in your area? What resources do you have for your chickens? This includes time you have to devote to them.

If you'd like information directly from me, you're more than welcome to send me a private message and we can converse in that manner. It'll be my pleasure to explain to you all u wanna know about my raising chickens!

 

[Intheswamp]

Well, if the chicks are still alive when you find them some feed I would highly recommend that you investigate "fermented feed". Basically put some feed in a bucket, pot, or whatever. Stir in enough water to barely cover the top of the feed . Wait a little while, maybe 30-45 minutes(?), and add enough water to once again cover the very top of the mixture. Stir this mixture up 2-3 times a day and keep it covered with a towel, piece of sheet, etc.,...anything to let air in but keep bugs out. Do this for three days. A white "froth" should form...stir this back into the mixture. Once three days pass scoop some of this out and put in a shallow bowl or on a plate and feed to your chickens. You want this "mash" to be the consistency of oatmeal...not so running it won't keep shape, but not really dry, either. This is called "fermented feed" or "FF" for short.

Some positive aspects of this fermented feed is that it will be much more absorb-able by your chickens and they will get more nutrition from eating it than they would from dry feed. Lots of the nutrition of dry feed is lost in their poop. Keep dry feed available to them, though, as you never want them to go hungry (as you're finding out). Feeding FF twice a day would be great, but once a day is better than none. FF also has lots of probiotics in it and thus will help create a healthy digestive system. Finally, feeding FF often reduces the amount of feed required by 25-50%....definitely a positive thing, especially where feed is hard to come by.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[cukuriku]

Well, if the chicks are still alive when you find them some feed I would highly recommend that you investigate "fermented feed". Basically put some feed in a bucket, pot, or whatever. Stir in enough water to barely cover the top of the feed . Wait a little while, maybe 30-45 minutes(?), and add enough water to once again cover the very top of the mixture. Stir this mixture up 2-3 times a day and keep it covered with a towel, piece of sheet, etc.,...anything to let air in but keep bugs out. Do this for three days. A white "froth" should form...stir this back into the mixture. Once three days pass scoop some of this out and put in a shallow bowl or on a plate and feed to your chickens. You want this "mash" to be the consistency of oatmeal...not so running it won't keep shape, but not really dry, either. This is called "fermented feed" or "FF" for short.

Some positive aspects of this fermented feed is that it will be much more absorb-able by your chickens and they will get more nutrition from eating it than they would from dry feed. Lots of the nutrition of dry feed is lost in their poop. Keep dry feed available to them, though, as you never want them to go hungry (as you're finding out). Feeding FF twice a day would be great, but once a day is better than none. FF also has lots of probiotics in it and thus will help create a healthy digestive system. Finally, feeding FF often reduces the amount of feed required by 25-50%....definitely a positive thing, especially where feed is hard to come by.

Best wishes,
Ed

Thanks for the informative info. I actually have mentioned in past posts that I found a store in my town that sells feed and will buy it today, G-d willing. Eitherway, I found a nice mixture to feed them today and they enjoyed it very much-a mixture of a third cooked millet, third cornflakes, and third rice crispies. i mashed it and crushed it up plus a spoonful of grit and they enjoyed it very much, and then i made another serving for them. They had eggs in the morning, so they had plenty of nutrients for today. I will give them feed tonite in addition, and they drank plenty of water today, so they'll definitely be alive, no reason to be so pessimistic, right?

 

[centrarchid]

We let them free range on our tiled yard lol, i guess that answer brings us to answer the next question, Im actually in Israel, and my town is more like city life (although not majorly busy, but similar enough to city life). There are loads of apartment builings and pretty much no farms, ranches, or any of that stuff. The few in this town that there are of those kinds of things are petting zoos, but thats about it and believe it or not, they have about everything but chickens. Chickens maybe they have one or two of, but they dont officially raise them. Therefore, we decided to be brave despite the difficulties and raise our little guys in this city. Clear enough explanation? lol, im curious to know wat ur reaction will be...

Better although not outside the realm possible.

If I were transplanted into your setting and wanted to persist keeping the birds, then I would first locate an commercial fish feed supplier and buy some feed formulated for carp or tilapia. Fish meal / shrimp meal / shrimphead meal would also do. That would provide a protein rich component to the feed that is best stored cool.. Then get your hands on seed mix used to feed birds such pigeons to provide the energy component of diet. I assume you can also acquire shell corn (maze), wheat and sorghum grain for same purpose. Five week old chickens (standard size) can ingest dent / field corn seeds without need for milling. Set aside some of smaller grains to germinate in water providing vitamin enriched sprouts. You will need to play around with ratios to get chickens into balanced diet. For fun, see if you can concentrate night flying insects using a UV light source collecting them in a water trap below. This would provide additional quality eats. While your chicks are young you will be battling to keep them in sufficient protein. As they mature you can use less protein and start using more vegetable matter although getting enough protein into them for typical egg production will be difficult.

 

[cukuriku]

I got chicken feed, thx though for the info!

 

[jroberts]

Np.