What do you feed your 3-4 month old chickens?

[artsy1]

geez. the people at that store are morons.
I give mine everything, veggies, strawberries,yougurt, cottage cheese, scratch, cooked rice.
They so much love it all. I have them in the coop and run with my other 6 grown hens and their mama, who protects them every second.

and they are only 2 1/2 months old.

 

[TexasLea]

The first few nights my very first batch of chicks spent out in the coop I actually took my daughters baby monitor and hooked it up out there so I could hear "the babies" if they needed me.

 

[gardendufus]

Hmm.....my chicks are 3 1/2 months old. Worms too big for them? Not after I've watched them suck up greens (weeds, spinach, etc) longer than a piece of spaghetti. They just get one end of it in their mouth and start sucking.........then go looking for more.

Things I have fed my chicks.........since they were 2 weeks old (in no particular order).........crickets, mealworms, yogurt (unflavored), shredded carrots, strawberries, bread, BOSS (black Oil Sunflower Seeds), watermelon and cantaloupe (just cut in half and set on the ground, they will take it down to nothing but the husk), corn on the cob, just about every weed I take out of my gardens (they have their favorites, you will learn what they won't eat), spinach, pears, dug up grass clumps (guess I should just say about anything GREEN), cauliflower, cabbage. The list goes on and on......you get the idea.

Now that they are older, I don't spend much time cutting things up. They are great sous chefs, they can break up about anything. At most I cut melons in half and husk the corn......but I'm thinking of testing them to see if they can peel the corn themselves. The large stuff not only feeds them, but provides them with an activity breaking it up.

FIND A DIFFERENT FEED STORE. I think you'd get better advice in the Wal Mart electronics department.

ETA: Oh yeah, cooked eggs is a favorite, I just quit cooking for them when I figured out they would eat anything.

 

[epignosisjs]

The first few nights my very first batch of chicks spent out in the coop I actually took my daughters baby monitor and hooked it up out there so I could hear "the babies" if they needed me.

LOL!! I thought about trying to find a baby monitor at a yard sale myself when we first put the chicks in the new coop. And now one or two of my roosters are trying to crow but if I get closer to the coop to hear it better they get quiet. I may still get that monitor!

 

[hippychickster]

LOL If I had a baby monitor I am sure I would have used it too!!

I"m so glad I came here and now feel comfortable giving them other things.

 

[epignosisjs]

Today I put a whole carrot in the run, just to see what they would do. I've given them carrots that I had grated up and they have devoured every piece. After an hour I went to check (I was going to grate it up if I needed to). The whole carrot was about 7-8" originally, but they had it pecked down to about an inch or so! It kept them occupied, and they got a treat! (Not to mention that I don't have to grate up carrots for them anymore.)So I love it when everyone is happy!

 

[Lynndaybrown]

Ditto what's below - I even have week old babies with mamas that were pecking at the sweet potato I put in for mommas today.

If you really want to see chicks go crazy feed them some mealworms, it's hilarious.

I
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[anbhean]

So, not trying to hijack the thread, but this thread got me concerned about my 18 wk olds now. I just combined my youngs with my olds. They are all eating the same food now-- not much I can do about that. Is layer feed going to hurt my 4 month olds? I leave chick feed out for them, but I' sure they are eating the layer feed too...

 

[TexasLea]

anbhean, I recently asked the same sort of question as I have never had to mix pullets and laying hens before. I was told it's best to just feed the starter/grower feed and leave out a bowl of ground oyster shell. The laying hens will eat the oyster shell but the chicks will show no interest in it until they are getting ready to start laying. The layer feed has too much calcium for the younger birds and can hurt their kidneys.

 

[hippychickster]

Yesterday it got to about 100 degrees here!

My chickens were very noisey and I kept changing the water so they would have some cool water.

I had a half of watermelon in the fridge and so I carved out the bulk for us humans and gave the rest to the chickens. They LOVED it! Was so fun to watch them eat it. I figured that helped cool them off as well.

They are my disposal now!