Organic Feed for Chicks

[antiquebuff]

I have had a request to raise a few organic chicks for a customer and I have never done this before. She is allergic to almost everything and cannot have any thing that has grain. She is wanting these for eggs but they can never have any medicated food, scratch, cracked corn or such. ......I don't even know where to start.........I would appreciate help from anyone.

 

[terryc]

You can try starting here, they have some good sources for organics.

http://www.ansci.umn.edu/poultry/resources/organic_feed_sources.htm

Terry

 

[hcammack]

wait so the chicks cannot eat grain that is impossible even organic feed is made with grain in it.

Henry

 

[NJfarmer]

She is prob allergic to Gluten

 

[chickenannie]

I think I heard about chickens in tropical areas eating coconut instead of soy for protein. It was a while ago that I heard about this, but I think there's a farm in the northeast that feeds coco-feed or something for soy-free chickens.

 

[antiquebuff]

Yes, She has a Gluten problem...I could not rem. what it was.....
I will check the web site Terry left .....Thanks so much!

 

[Jillylam]

Below is a link to the National Organic Program's Code of Federal Regulations. 100% organic is very difficult to attain - at least in my opinion. I've done a lot of reading on it and am striving to practice 'organic' the best I can. It's not just the feed that needs to be organic. It's everything from the bedding to lawn treatments to the vaccines and wormers to the storage bins used to store the chicken feed in. I'm going on my fourth year of not using any chemical treatments on my property or fertilizers (other than my own compost). Another concern is blow-over from anyone using anything nearby. I have neighboring farms that spray their fields and on certain days I can smell it very strongly. So how much of that is coating my property? My next step is soil testing to see how my soil is coming along. Anyway, as far as the person who wants those eggs from you, I wouldn't even begin to be able to tell you how to feed the chickens without using regular layer feed. I think it is Speckledhen that has a customer with specific needs (i.e. no antibiotics) - maybe she'll be able to help.

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex....1.1.9.30;idno=7;cc=ecfr#7:3.1.1.9.30.2.336.6

 

[Moselle]

If she cannot have eggs from a grain eating chicken, she will have a very difficult time. Chickens eat grain. Organic and any other feed is grain based. I have heard of Cocoafeed, which is based on coconut, but even that contains grain. I supposed if she could come up with a list of things that would be fine: grasses, sprouts, coconut, nuts, seeds, fishmeal, etc., you might be able to come up with a feed that meets the nutritional needs of the chicken and your friend.

You can check with Countryside Naturals (countrysidenaturals.com) and see what they have available.