Stalled Growth - Need Advice/Help

[aart]

plus two fifty pound bags of chicken feed for our full-grown laying hen.

That'll last 1 bird months... my 15 birds eat #50 in 2-3 weeks.....by that time it will be stale and the nutrition in it will degrade. I suggest you return it....unless I am incorrect about you having only 1 hen and 1 chick.

But first... what's in the chick starter, protein and calcium percentages on tag sewn into bottom of bag? How big are starter bags?

A lot of us feed starter/grower/all flock types feed and provide oyster shell on the side for the layers in the flock.

Cute story.

 

[chickens really]

Well...I have 7 Chickens...I buy 2 bags at a time...Although I use it before it gets stale..3 Bags of Chick starter will be too much left over before its time to switch to Grower...One good thing though is you bought the right feed...

 

[Folly's place]

It would be best if you returned most of the feed you just bought! It should be fed within six weeks (max) of the mill date on the bag, because it will lose vitamins and get stale. For two birds, get a small bag of an all-flock feed, and have oyster shell in a separate dish for your hen. Easy!
Small bags of feed cost more per pound, but feeding bad feed, or throwing it out, is not better! Mary

 

[PirateGirl]

I'm going to jump in and defend your other half and say that yes, on a farm, where chicks are raised by mama hen, and free range, and can eat bugs and worms for protein and dirt and rocks off the ground as grit, they probably can do fine without the chick starter. When we raise them in a brooder in the house they don't have access to all that is outdoors. My pullets were not raised on chick starter. I'm putting that out there. They had a different type of chicken feed, but yeah, no factory processed crumbles boosted with all kinds of vitamins and minerals in a feed plant somewhere. They grew up and one is now laying and no long term effects that I've noticed. I did switch foods at some point when they were a few months old when I ran out of one kind and found another on sale, so they did have "grower" for a few months. I guess what I'm saying is, we all learn, we do our best, and with continued nutrition and care I think your chick can grow up just fine. Try not to fret about what's happened in the past, and do your best to care for your lil chick that's already proven to be a survivor!

 

[Tkelley96]

The feed that we purchased is always sealed. I'm not totally sure if that makes a significant difference in the deterioration of the vitamins and nutrients in the feed. I know that I feel a lot better knowing that we have an abundance of food for the chickens if we do run into hard financial times again in the future.

With that being said, I don't think I'll be returning the food. The shelf life of the bags we purchased exceed two years. So I think we'll be just fine. And to clarify, we purchased two 50lb bags of standard chicken feed, we bought a smaller bag of the chick starter.

The chick starter that we bought is as follows:

Vibrant Life
"Poultry starter & grower"
"Type C medicated crumbles"

CRUDE PROTEIN MIN. 18.0%
LYSINE MIN. 0.88%
METHIONINE MIN. 0.32%
CRUDE FAT MIN. 3.0%
CRUDE FIBER MAX. 5.0%
CALCIUM MIN. 0.75% | MAX. 1.25%
PHOSPHORUS MIN. 0.55%
SALT MIN. 0.35% | MAX. 0.85%
SODIUM MIN. 0.1% | MAX. 0.3%
PHYTASE (A. ORYZAE) MIN. 227 FYT/LB

 

[ThatCrazyChickenGirl]

Sounds like good food! I wouldn't be TOO concerned about it going stale, so long as you are careful to keep it sealed. If you keep feeding her left over garden scraps, she'll get some fresh vitamin sources there.

I love house chickens! Such a 'weird' pet but they are so full of personality and love. Hope you enjoy them both!