what do you feed and How much?

[chickenbreeder]

Hello sorry if this was asked already but I am really needing to know how much and what you feed you're flock of chickens. like table scraps and food.




I have 8 Muscovy ducks and 17 chickens.

I bought 120lbs of chicken food 40lbs of chicken scratch 40lbs crushed corn 40lbs layer crumble pellets.

I feed 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket 3 times a day as the chickens are very skinny and all I feel are bone's no meat. I Received them this way from people who left them in a pin most of there life with probably little water and little food so now it has been 3 days sense I have had them and they have found out they will be fed every day and they know me as there feeder and swarm the bucket and my feet every time I feed them.

I have the duck's and chickens in together in a large pen I mean you could fit 8 goats in it for another day so they don't try to go back to there old home I have had them pinned up for 4 days tomorrow will be the 4th day.

I will be letting the chickens for the first time in there life to free roam and dig for worms and bugs they are going to love being free roam chickens for the first time. the ducks free roam all there life so hopefully the ducks will teach the chickens how to do their thing.


but if you have any other information on what you feed you're flock of birds

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

Ducks require a little more protein than chickens, so I would suggest an all-flock feed with 18% protein. They have access to food all day long, and will only take what they need. I provide about 2 1/2 cups of scratch every other day to my flock of 13 chickens and 1 duck, so for a flock of that size, perhaps 4-5 cups of scratch every other day. The chickens will probably eat like a horse to try to build themselves back up again. Good luck!

 

[HEChicken]

You're doing fine. The only thing I would change is I would ditch the cracked corn and scratch and feed only the layer pellets. They should be formulated to provide a balanced diet for them, and by adding other things, the balance is upset. If you have already opened the bags, its not going to hurt to finish them, but if it were me, I'd feed mostly the layer pellets and just throw out a small amount of scratch and corn in the yard to encourage them to learn to scratch there for bugs.

 

[chickenbreeder]

yeah they have a high protein of all the food's I have mixed with the food so the protein is not a problem. but yeah i will look into the all stock feed see how much it is around here.



but yeah I am thinking I will just stick with self feeding as the chickens and ducks will be foraging for bugs and other stuff and will still have food.

but thank you yeah they are trying to regain there body weight and it has been going great but It is also still to soon to be excited yet but in about another week they should have gained some weight up but we won't know lol.