what should i feed these girls?

[mom wewantchicks!]

my chicks are 10-11 weeks old, what should i feed them? they are on chick starter/grower from southern states. im not sure at what age they should be put on something different and what it should be! i also have 4-5 week old chicks that are on the same feed. they all get to free range a bit everyday.

 

[sred98]

I've been giving mine bread (they love the whole grain!), rolls, some fruit (they don't care for it that much), yogurt, and mealworms! I throw in various scraps to them, but they mainly care about bread and mealworms. They had some ramen noodles yesterday, but they didn't really like them.

Shelly

 

[soctippy]

you can leave them on starter until they start laying, then switch them to a layer ration. because of their age they need all the protein and vitamins that the starter has. When they do start laying, you then can switch them to a laying feed, this has more calium, less protein, and some times hormones (that are not good for growing chicks). If your older chicks start growing to fast, they will look top heavy and have a hard time walking, mix some oats in with their feed to dilute it (we use instand oatmeal if in a pinch).

 

[mom wewantchicks!]

oats? do i buy them at the feed store? im really new to this!! the older chicks are wierd, they will eat bread or maybe a french fry lol. the babies will eat about anything i offer them!! i think it has to do with being spoiled!! well at least thats what my hubby say lol.

 

[soctippy]

you can buy oats at most feed stores, however i have found that my 2 month old chicks won't eat whole oats, i think its because of the size of the actual oat seed and the fact that oats have a really hard shell to them. So I have been looking for some cracked oats or oats in smaller pieces to feed to them, instant oatmeal is like $3+ for 2-3 pounds!