WHAT SHOULD YOU FEED YOUR CHOOKS?

Ooh, what a fun question! I don't have pictures of what I feed them, but I do have a bit of an evolution!

When I first started out with chicks, I just fed them the standard chick starter that the feed store clerk recommended. As they got older, I just fed them chicken scratch because my Dad had raised and maintained a huge flock on cheap scratch grains back in the 60s and 70s. It was what he was used to, so I did it, too.

However, as I expanded my flock with the addition of ducks, turkeys and quail, I realized there were some huge nutritional differences that I'd have to compensate for if I wanted my birds to flourish. A very good breeder from San Antonio taught me about a really high protein feed he fed all his chicks/poults/ducklings, so I invested the extra ten dollars on some higher quality feed for the game fowl.

Then I realized that my hens weren't laying nearly as well as I needed them to be. I paint eggs, so I need a healthy supply of eggs coming in for me to blow out. So I sold some painted eggs and used the money to purchase some higher quality layer crumbles and whole oats to mix together. So now, I have a huge aluminum canister filled with a mixture of scratch grains, layer pellets, layer crumbles and whole oats mixed together for the chooks. Sometimes, as a treat, I feed them the leftover fish scraps my sister brings home after her fishing trips. I've also fed them left over crawfish that they happen to love to munch on. If fed enough of those, you'll find that your eggs' yolks turn a cool red-orange color, hehe!

Sometimes, feeding the flock is based on trial and error. Now that I know what works best for me, I'm trying to stick to higher quality feeds that have balanced nutrients. My flock gives me more than just eggs. I like to think that feeding them well is one of the small things I can do to pay them back for all they've given me.

 

I feed mine commercial feed. They forage daily to get all manner of supplements.

Chris