Some Crop Info please!

[dianer29]

My SILKIES have been without their feed one week approx .Long story short, feed store let me down,no feed for them .I have been giving them more "scraps" to make up for lack of their organic feed. I cook oatmeal early evening ,last feeding mix a banana and water in it and they scoff all of it up mostly,leaving a small amount in bowl as they lose interest as they are full.The food is not scraps as all is fresh ,most organic all prepared(cut small or grated) Silkies are 11 weeks old. ACV in their water cged daily. Plain yogurt with small amount fruit and chopped fine Cheerios, chopped cabbage (raw), alfalfa sprouts, or dk lettuce chopped fine.The brown rice has chopped fine garlic that they eat every am. They walk away and get disinterested when full of the oatmeal as I watch over them. The am rice daily feeding with their feed nearby NORMALLY they eat up all of it.
My concern is that nothing is a clear science,yet I do not nor will I ever intentionally use my SILKIES as lab rats ,guessing constantly and taking their health for granted is not a road I want to travel on.......I could use some really good crop information ,sour crop and other crop issues .I cannot sit here and play God over them but I am their main caretaker and the feed issue will be solved hopefully once the barge arrives but in the meantime I could be making grave errors ...............
They are hungry and very excited when I bring the rations.

 

[ruth]

Chickens are omnivores and will eat anything that doesn't eat them. Just about anything you can think to feed them will be healthy and good for them - and will be healthier than commercial chicken feed any day - even the organic kind. I also feed mine diced up lunch meats, shredded cheese, cooked eggs (boiled and then smashed up whole, shell and all) - all kitchen scraps, dry dog/cat food - the list is endless. They also are total freerange and can be found foraging anywhere on our farm and in the woods. They love the blood and guts of the roos that get processed - well you get the idea - ours (over 200 of them) eat EVERYTHING including commercial chicken feed, game bird feed, black oil sunflower seeds (with shells), scratch.

I've never had a sick or diseased chicken - all are healthy and fit and quite active and would eat us out of house and home if we let them.

 

[tulie13]

The only thing I would suggest with your temporary diet is that you get some sort of grit for them - they can't "chew up" leafy vegetables like the cabbage in their gizzard unless they have some stones or sand of some sort. Other than that, what you are giving them sounds like a good TEMPORARY fix. A non-balanced diet for a short time won't kill them. You are giving them yogurt which has some protein, and green stuff and starchy/grainy stuff (cereal, rice). If their crops are not emptying overnight, then you need to worry about sour crop or the like, but I think you will be fine on that. Just don't suddenly feed them a large amount of grass/vegetation that they stuff themselves on which could lead to an impacted crop.

The only other thing I would recommend is maybe giving them some more protein occasionally, like some scrambled egg (fully cooked so they don't decide they like the taste of raw egg and become egg-eaters!). I personally don't like the idea of cat food as it likely contains chicken. Fish would work, though...

Good luck, and don't panic - it sounds like you are doing a great job!

 

[dianer29]

Thanx alot BYCERS.
Tulie: I forgot to mention I provide parakeet grit in a small bowl every other day. A few look and leave with giving anyone that watches them "the stink eye" Will instinct press them to try it because they need it ? I have it in the missing feed everyday so maybe they all get it regardless.........I cannot wait until their needed feed arrives!I really cannot give them egg knowingly.......................It is silly but then again I have the right to be that way .........lol

 

[Sillystunt]

please watch the cheese and banana's, in excess they are not good for them. I would also say yes to the eggs, tuna, yogurt , fruit and maybe some canned veggies. Make sure any beans are cooked at 185 for 15 mins. Cheerioes and whole grains, Rice, oatmeal are all good! Ruth is right, they will eat just about anything...LOL
Best of luck!

 

[dianer29]

silly stunt :no cheese for these baby rats.lol. I don't give them cheese only yogurt as a dairy product. I am trying to see if I can get my hands on some fish for them though.I was advised recently bananas can cause a diarahea in excessso I did cut down on it. Today apple grated ......... no seeds .Yummy they were dancing in the street.lol

 

[ruth]

They need lots of protein. In the "wild" they eat mostly bugs and slugs and insects. Dice up some lunch meats or feed them diced up raw liver or scrambled/boiled egg. I know you said you have an aversion to feeding them egg or chicken but it's their two favorite and most natural foods. They are natural cannibals and egg eaters. Chickens that are confined and denied enough protein will eat one another alive and once they taste a raw egg there's no stopping them.

 

[dianer29]

Ruth: Do you have an alternative? I cannot do the egg and chicken.There has to be something available. I tried to get mealworms ,none available here on the island and the ones I ordered all died in flight prob due to temps.

 

[Sillystunt]

canned tuna , salamon maybe?

 

[feathersnuggles]

I give my hens fish, including the small bones, steamed slightly and without additional salt. Usually its just some freezer burned salmon, trout, etc., that I know my family isn't going to eat. Also, mackerel.

Black oil sunflower seeds (with shells) - you can get this in the feed store or where they sell wild bird feed. Excellent for them & for their feathers.

Yogurt, homemade kefir I make from raw milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese

I grow my own mealworms (just a suggestion, if you want, for the future). I get VAST quantities of them when I grow them myself and it's way cheaper than purchasing them. The girls gobble them up.

Also, I scramble eggs for them occasionally and they have never broken any eggs in the nest. I'm convinced broken eggs in the nest are more about weak and thin shells, than anything else.

They free range and pick up weeds, insects, bugs, etc.

A few times per month I sprinkle nutritional yeast onto their treats.

With all this, my girls barely touch the feed mash that's in their feeder. The only time they make a real dent in it, is when I'm away for a day and they don't get the stuff above. THAT's when I notice the feed level drops. They need plenty of good quality protein in order to thrive.