Out of feed for two days... Help!

[Tatuana]

The only feed store near me at all is out of feed for two days. I just discovered mine porked out so I'm 100% out of food for the little guys. They're about a month old now. I don't want the poor things to starve! Is there anything I can give them in the meanwhile? They're completely free range with access to my lawn all day. they tuck themselves away in my garage at night.

Help? The little demons are already struggling with the heat, I don't want to make their life more miserable!

 

[BlueBaby]

Do you have a Walmart nearby? They sell feed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Find another local feed store and make the drive (or ask someone to go for you)? Chopped hard boiled eggs might be ok for a day or two, in a pinch.

 

[2 many chickens]

Just go to Walmart, pet smart or pet Co and get some chicken food. Doesn't have to be the same kind they always eat. Even 16 percent crumble will work until you can get your normal food..

 

[ChickNanny13]

Any other chicken raisers around you? See if you can "borrow" some but Walmart, PetSmart, PetCo will work too.

 

[Tatuana]

My local walmart stopped carrying it for some reason. I called the pet stores and they all acted like I was calling asking for dinosaur shoes. I can place an order for an overnight shipment off of Amazon, but that still leaves them empty a day.

 

[Perris]

got any wet dog or cat food? tinned sardines? fruit? they can eat all these things and will enjoy them until your proper feed is available.

 

[Ebony Rose]

How many birds are in your flock? You mention that they're only a month old, have they had any grit (dirt, sand, or store bought 'grit')? Makes a difference on what you can offer them to stave off hunger pangs. I'm going to assume that they've not had grit yet so that I can offer a tight-spot recipe idea that's in no way a balanced diet, but will hold them over for two days.
Ground up dry cat or kitten food with mashed hard boiled eggs (shell & all if you have a food processor to grind the shell), pour the hot water that you boiled the eggs in over the egg & cat food mixture to soften the cat food even more... Once cooled, you can feed that to your chicks. Keep the second-days worth refrigerated until you feed it out to them the next day. This recipe isn't a balanced diet, it's much higher protein than they're used to, and the balance on amino acids, vitamins, minerals etc aren't right for chickens... it's right for CATS... but it will do in a pinch.
The feed store has NO chicken food at all? None? I mean, you could feed them an 'all flock' type of feed with no problem at all; might give it a quick whirl in a food processor to break up the larger chunky bits... How do you run a feed store and run out of feed??

 

[EggWalrus]

If it's only for a couple of days, you can feed them cornmeal mush, cooked grits, scrambled eggs, and even throw them out some wild bird seed to forage for in the yard.
Wet cat food or dog food will work in a pinch but get them some real chick feed within a few days. You don't want to spoil them too long or they'll never want chicken feed again.

 

[123RedBeard]

How do you run a feed store and run out of feed??

The same way chicken keepers run out of feed, don't keep an eye on inventory ...

Today's world has mostly been conditioned to the just in time delivery concept ... a day or two of food at home, look at the panic when a storm is coming ...

People expect the stores to always have what they will need, the stores expect their supplier will always have (and deliver) what they want ... one or two truck break downs, or an accident ... and the world is gonna end!

To the OP ... yogurt, cheese, eggs, bread, cooked rice or oatmeal ... left overs from your table ... will keep them alive ... just make sure they have some grit, or dirt ... since they are free ranging they should be able to find the grit ... and in the future try to stay a week or more ahead of them running out ...