Hello,
I'm new to chicken parenting and have used the Storey's book as my guide. Gail Damerow suggests that when laying chicks reach about eight weeks that oats should gradually be introduced to their diet until they are getting a 50/50 mixture of starter/grower and oats. (page 115) She recommends this to make them healthier layers even though it may delay the first egg by a few weeks.
How many people do this? And what kind of oats should I get for them? Whole or rolled? I got them some organic cracked oats from Vitamin Cottage but that's a little cost prohibitive.
A concern I might have with this is that it's gotten warm here in western Colorado now and they don't seem to eat as much and I don't want to take away what nutrition they get. They get treats of mealworms, bugs and greens but I'm giving them a few days of chick feed only because some of them have loose stools. More, I think, than simple cloaca (sp?) stools. Too many treats perhaps. They get a bunch of fresh alfalfa every other day.
Thanks, Mary
I'm new to chicken parenting and have used the Storey's book as my guide. Gail Damerow suggests that when laying chicks reach about eight weeks that oats should gradually be introduced to their diet until they are getting a 50/50 mixture of starter/grower and oats. (page 115) She recommends this to make them healthier layers even though it may delay the first egg by a few weeks.
How many people do this? And what kind of oats should I get for them? Whole or rolled? I got them some organic cracked oats from Vitamin Cottage but that's a little cost prohibitive.
A concern I might have with this is that it's gotten warm here in western Colorado now and they don't seem to eat as much and I don't want to take away what nutrition they get. They get treats of mealworms, bugs and greens but I'm giving them a few days of chick feed only because some of them have loose stools. More, I think, than simple cloaca (sp?) stools. Too many treats perhaps. They get a bunch of fresh alfalfa every other day.
Thanks, Mary
