Ok please make sure I have this right......

[Ckn woman]

when the chicks are young like days to 6 weeks old they get chick grit with their chick starter. then I can switch their feed to 25% and they can have scratch grit?
This is what I am feeding now:

20% chick starter--not grit but planning to get some. I have 3 weeks old chicks S/R don't know sex and 3 day old chicks pullets. I also am giving them just plain tap water.

How will I keep the babies from eating what the older ones are when i combine my flock? I am totally confused!!!!

 

[MoodyChicken]

I feed chick starter till they lay.

 

[MissJames]

Quote:
Uhm....you don't need grit if they only get chick starter.Also they get starter until they are around 20 weeks old and start laying.Give grit free choice if they are getting treats or yogurt .I haven't combined mine yet.for that very reason.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

When my first broody hatched out a set of babies, I was all worried about the babies eating their food adn the big girls eating their food. What ended up happening everybody ate everybody's food. They are all still fine for it. If it looks like the babies aren't getting their share you might rig up a system so the big chickens can't get to it. But the babies will try to sample the big girl food as well.
Silly chickens.

 

[MissJames]

Quote:
Are you talking about combining the 3 week olds with the 3 day olds? They are close enough in age that they can all get chick starter until the youngest are about 18 weeks.

 

[Judy]

They don't need grit if they only eat chick starter.

Locally, only two types of feed, starter/grower and layer, are sold, so I feed the starter/grower til they lay.

I understand it's also ok to feed the starter/grower to layering hens, but the layers need oyster shell for calcium offered alongside. This is my plan for when I have a broody raising chicks, because the chick should not eat layer feed, but I want the broody to be getting ready to lay again.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I heard chick starter or crumbles until they start laying then layer feed.

I started offering finch grit free choice at 3 wks when I started giving a little treats like meal worms, grass, scrambled eggs.

Last time I bought parakeet grit which has the fine sand and small stones free choice.

If you give different feed to the little ones - raise the feeder for the bigger ones so they can reach but little ones can't. BUT, you should be feeding all the same feed. Starter which I think mine is 19%.

Good luck with your babies.

 

[Ckn woman]

ok so they need chick starter until they are about 19 to 20 weeks old. I was told at TSC to get chick starter and then move to one that was like an in between the starter and the layer and after that one move to a layer feed. If I feed them worms and such then they will need grit of some kind? Is that right?

Do I feed them chick grit until they start laying also? or do I feed them scratch grit? What is the difference?????

 

[jrleader99]

If you read the packaging of the stuff from TSC there are a couple of different feeds that they sell. The one that I am using is a chick starter feed for the first 10 weeks, then a grower feed for 10 weeks through laying age and finally the layer feed.

Grit is used by the chicks to grind up food in their digestive system (crop or gizzrd I forget which). I have read so many different opinions on this that my head was spinning. Most people give it to the chicks as free choice (not mixed with feed) and start anywhere from a couple of days old, to when they start giving snacks to when they switch feed. Some people never give grit and let them pick it up from the ground in their runs.

Scratch grains are mixed grains, usually cracked corn, wheat, etc, that is mixed and should be a treat or snack for the chicks because it takes away from their normal diet of the starter feed and reduces the protein percentage of their intake.

If you give your chicks starter feed for a couple of weeks longer or shorter than what is stated on the package, I don't think you are going to ruin anything.

 

[Wynette]

Suggestion: if you're feeding Dumor brand, don't pitch it, but you might want to consider an alternative brand. It's not a very good brand, in my experience. I've used it twice on two different hatches, and ended up with weird feather issues on both.

But, what the others are saying is right. 1) you do not need grit if you are ONLY feeding starter, and they actually do not need anything other than starter - it's a complete feed. 2) if you DO decide to give treats, they DO need grit (chick grit); you CAN feed things that are very soft (like yogurt) without feeding grit, but most everything else, they'll need grit to digest. 3) you should not switch them over to layer feed until they begin laying, so you should be okay feeding all of them starter feed. 4) scratch should only be fed as a treat...not a complete feed.

Enjoy!