Veggie only diet?

[hnbubz]

can i feed my chick (when i get him) only veggies and fruit? he will be living in my room so i can feed him all day every day. if not how do i make the food?

 

[Akane]

You would be best off buying proper poultry feed. It is nutritionally balanced. Chickens are omnivores and eat meat and insects as well as vegetation. Some have been fed vegetarian diets but it's hard to give them enough protein that way. Good plant protein sources usually need cooked. You'd have to get something like soybeans and cook them everyday. Even then it's hard to balance all the nutrition they need. Also chickens are social. They really do better as at least a pair not alone. Single chicks will cry constantly out of loneliness.

 

[Wifezilla]

Chickens are NOT vegetarians.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
And even if you do give them enough protein from vegetable sources you still have to be aware of blending those sources in such a way as to provide all the essential amino acids. Much easier to just buy some chicken feed.
I won't even respond to the keeping it in my room part.

 

[dottie1111]

chickens need balanced diet proper feed to stage of life/starter mash/ grpwer and then laying mash . I do give my chickens vegs cooked and grapes and some rice when they range they get additionl protein form bugs/They love cantalope

 

[katrinag]

Living in your room? You do know that there poo smells bad. I would not want to subject a chicken to living in my room. They belong outside.

 

[patandchickens]

You definitely cannot keep chickens healthy with just veggies and fruits. They have very little protein in them.

At a *minimum* you need to add well-chosen grains.

Really, though, in nature (and thus, BY nature) chickens are omnivores (they eat meat as well as plant matter). Bugs, and any other small critters (up to and including mice and lizards and such) they can catch.


Pat

 

[cmom]

Proper feed for proper nutrition and vegies as treats. Is your bird going to live in a cage?

 

[Akane]

Plenty of people on here have house chickens. I have 6 inside right now. 3 are in a bit smaller pen than I'd like but they are some of my bantams that were having issues with the cold. 3 bantams I plan to keep in a 3x6' cage with some time to roam the spare bedroom and house along with going out in the backyard in good weather. I have chicken diapers in the mail. If only you knew half the stuff I raised in my bedroom when living with my parents.

That's definitely not the part I have a problem with. Unless there's a good reason for it though, ie the chicken doesn't get along with any other or a poor hatch with one chick and no way to get more, chicks and chickens should have friends. The diet is also definitely not appropriate. You should be prepared to buy the proper food for your pet unless you have some very good nutrition knowledge to mix your own. Mixing your own is actually more expensive unless your feeding a large number of animals and buying ingredients in bulk.

 

[chickenannie]

My feed includes soybeans for protein, so yes, they do eat a vegetarian diet. However, soybeans MUST be roasted. Soybeans have toxins for chickens in them, if they are not roasted properly. Don't take NYreds suggestion to cook some every day, it will make your chick sick.
However, once roasted, many many farmers provide protein to their poultry from giving them soybeans.