Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.
- Thread starter Shadrach
- Start date
Yes it is in the shop where I buy chick feed. The general advice is about 20% proteins voor the first 6 weeks and 18% for the following weeks until slaughter or point of lay.
But strangely, i found that the organic chick starter has less proteins. I don’t know why.
on alternative chick nutrition, I looked up Wright and read through the whole chapter again, and as usual he's quite subtle and nuanced. So he restricts the 'let the broody do it' to Games and Hamburgs, but he has reservations about the other breeds (fewer breeds known to him than us) because he thinks broodies are prone to overtire their chicks if they are not confined some/most of the day. I have certainly seen that, and weak chicks that can't cope; but novice mums overdo or underdo it in lots of species methinx, and broodies do gain experience and get better with it. Natural selection sorts it out if allowed to work, usually.
On chick nutrition specifically, he thinks grass essential whatever else is on offer. He advises ground oats/oatmeal + c. 30% ground barley or breadcrumbs, both mixed with milk (nb fresh not sour) rather than water + a little meat of some kind daily 'for a little time'; 'the longer the better' if cost is not an issue. (Like writers of old recipe books, he can be frustratingly vague on things we consider important details, but I guess we are to use our own judgement about when the time is right to move on.) Whatever has been given, from day 2, or after a few days at most, he thinks grits should be given so the gizzard can get working properly. I think grits is porridge. By a fortnight old he thinks their beaks are strong enough for cracked wheat or barley, bruised oats, or buckwheat. He's not a fan of the then-fashionable trend of giving them custard except for debilitated prize chicks in Jan or Feb. He prefers homemade cottage cheese, squeezed to remove as much liquor as possible, especially where milk is cheap.
I might try some of these ideas with the clutch due to hatch June 4/5.
On chick nutrition specifically, he thinks grass essential whatever else is on offer. He advises ground oats/oatmeal + c. 30% ground barley or breadcrumbs, both mixed with milk (nb fresh not sour) rather than water + a little meat of some kind daily 'for a little time'; 'the longer the better' if cost is not an issue. (Like writers of old recipe books, he can be frustratingly vague on things we consider important details, but I guess we are to use our own judgement about when the time is right to move on.) Whatever has been given, from day 2, or after a few days at most, he thinks grits should be given so the gizzard can get working properly. I think grits is porridge. By a fortnight old he thinks their beaks are strong enough for cracked wheat or barley, bruised oats, or buckwheat. He's not a fan of the then-fashionable trend of giving them custard except for debilitated prize chicks in Jan or Feb. He prefers homemade cottage cheese, squeezed to remove as much liquor as possible, especially where milk is cheap.
I might try some of these ideas with the clutch due to hatch June 4/5.
My layers prefer a grape diet in autumn.My chickens don’t fly into the cherry trees. Maybe it’s a bit too high , or they don’t try this out of respect for the birds that claimed the cherry trees. We have lots of pigeons, sparrows and blue jays in our garden even before the cherry’s turn red. The chickens do search for leftover on the grass. But now they prefer the grass seeds we scattered to pimp the ‘lawn’.
Ouch! What do you use to keep infection out? I imagine his spurs were less than sterile.
hooray!
I went unmedicated last year and lost to illness only 1 out of 9 in one clutch and 1 out of 6 in the other, and I don't think coccidiosis was the cause of death in either case.
Are you joking?
Grit are little stones to mill the feed in the gizzard. Grit is important for chicks too , if they free range and eat stuff like grasses.
For chicks the chicken grit is too big, you can offer them course sand instead. I offer them pigeon grit and there is a sand bedding in the run.
no; grits, not grit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grit_(grain)
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #5,909
No.
Ideally I would like to create conditions that might encourage the RSL's to go broody and wait.
After that my preference would be to let the lot die out. The allotment under the current management is not a place I would want to raise chicks, or even keep chickens of any description.
I doubt I could make the changes there that meant I would be happy with further generations as things are now.
There is always at the back of my mind what happens if Henry dies. I'm not a fan of single sex chicken keeping.
Fret has shown she will go broody and so has Matilda apparently.
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