What to feed chicks that have just hatched?

[yrtrnc]

Hiya

So ı don't have the option of ready feed. What feed can I make them for their first meal?

 

[Pork Pie]

Maybe some mashed boiled eggs / scrambled eggs

 

[sawilliams]

Scrambled eggs, if they eat the shells they need to have grit too. If you feed your chickens an all flock or grower feed that is fine to (if pellet just grind in a blender or mash it by hand) you can add water to make it a little softer too. If you feed your flock layer, most people sat not to let the chicks have layer feed this early but in a pinch for a day or 2 it shouldn't do any harm along as its crumble or you grind it if pellet

 

[yrtrnc]

I feed my chickens wheat seeds. Can I just grind the wheat seeds for the chicks and give it to them with scramble eggs?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hopefully your flock is getting something else rather than just wheat seeds. Maybe they forage for a lot of their food. There are all kinds of ways to do that.

Yes, grinding wheat seeds will work fine, whether you mix it with cooked eggs or not. Corn meal is also a good feed to use to start with. Before they hatch the chicks absorb the yolk, just suck it up into their abdomen. They can live off of that alone for about three days so they don't need to eat at all immediately. But some food that young doesn't hurt at all. It does need to be ground up unless you also feed them grit, end even then grinding it to start with is a good thing.

Some people may be horrified that you aren't immediately feeding a prepared chick starter, but for thousands of years people did not have prepared chick starter or chicken feed around the corner. They fed their chickens what they had or let them forage for what they could find. Quality of forage had a lot to do with it but chickens aren't extinct yet. Grinding wheat seeds and mixing it with cooked eggs should be a tremendous first meal.

 

[2727Hope]

I don't know where to post questions. New babies in brooder. How long can they stay in there and when and what to feed? Just hatched! They are dried but sticky. Should I wipe them off? HELP

 

[azygous]

I don't know where to post questions. New babies in brooder. How long can they stay in there and when and what to feed? Just hatched! They are dried but sticky. Should I wipe them off? HELP

To post your own thread with your questions, go back to the first page of this forum with all the thread topics and click on the blue window at the top right of the page, "Start a new Thread". That will open your own thread. You enter a title for it, then move to the subject window and state your questions and concerns. It always helps to describe in detail as much as you can about your situation and setup. This way you can have your own discussion and you'll get way more responses than hitching onto someone else's thread.