Hello everyone! I am new to chickens and to this site. Over the last few months I have spent a good deal of time reading but am just now joining. We decided on chickens because we wanted to have fresh eggs and we eat lots of eggs.
We have 4 Amerucana's (3 hens and 1 roo and he was supposed to be a hen too), 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Leghorn, 4 Silver laced (3 hens/1 roo). They are about 11 weeks old. 1 Barred Rock mix roo who is about 4.5 months old, 5 Silkie babies (almost 2 weeks) that currently still live in my bathroom, and 5 Delaware babies (Christmas hatch) that also live in my bathroom (because chickens have a wonderful aroma!). We are waiting for a handful of Gold Laced to be hatched and two more leghorns. Initially our plan was only involving the 4 Amerucanas but my husband built a very large pen for them and we had adequate space. Roosters were also not in the plans either but things happen (lol).
We've currently only been feeding the starter/grower crumble feed to the older chicks and the starter mash to the younger bunch. I was wondering when it would be acceptable to begin introducing other things into their diet such as oatmeal, cooked rice, legumes etc? Ive been reading alot about what is okay and whats not and most of the information doesnt include ages. I just dont want to do anything that will harm them or halt proper development.
Im also wondering when its okay to begin giving scratch and grit. Our chickens have alot of open confined space but not free range as there is a concern over predators (house cats, stray cats, stray dogs, coyotes, etc) especially when we've got a pack of coyotes that are coming to check out or chickens during the day time, so we're playing it safe with them.
Thanks
We have 4 Amerucana's (3 hens and 1 roo and he was supposed to be a hen too), 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Leghorn, 4 Silver laced (3 hens/1 roo). They are about 11 weeks old. 1 Barred Rock mix roo who is about 4.5 months old, 5 Silkie babies (almost 2 weeks) that currently still live in my bathroom, and 5 Delaware babies (Christmas hatch) that also live in my bathroom (because chickens have a wonderful aroma!). We are waiting for a handful of Gold Laced to be hatched and two more leghorns. Initially our plan was only involving the 4 Amerucanas but my husband built a very large pen for them and we had adequate space. Roosters were also not in the plans either but things happen (lol).
We've currently only been feeding the starter/grower crumble feed to the older chicks and the starter mash to the younger bunch. I was wondering when it would be acceptable to begin introducing other things into their diet such as oatmeal, cooked rice, legumes etc? Ive been reading alot about what is okay and whats not and most of the information doesnt include ages. I just dont want to do anything that will harm them or halt proper development.
Im also wondering when its okay to begin giving scratch and grit. Our chickens have alot of open confined space but not free range as there is a concern over predators (house cats, stray cats, stray dogs, coyotes, etc) especially when we've got a pack of coyotes that are coming to check out or chickens during the day time, so we're playing it safe with them.
Thanks
