Where can I find the good stuff (chickie feed, that is)?

[boheme]

I'm fairly new to this chicken business too, and as you can see, not all my attempts were successful. The best we can do is ask questions, and then go with our instincts.

At first I didn't grind anything, but the poor babes had a hard time eating it, even with grit( I use sand or aquarium grade substrate). For the wee ones I grind everyting as fine as I can, some things just don't break down well in my blender, and as they get older I leave more of the larger pieces in it. As for the peas and lentils, I use french lentils because they're already pretty small, and I break up the peas with a meat tenderizer or hammer before putting them into the blender. I don't cook any of it, but I don't think it would hurt to cook it either.

I make my own kefir, so I don't know much about powdered probiotic, but I assume it would work just as well as yogurt, and either forms of milk should be just fine( I love the idea of using human milk). As far as the eggs go, your neighbor's eggs sound great, but in a pinch I've even used store bought free range.

I hope I answered all your questions. If not, or if you think of any more, just let me know.

Good luck!

Very helpful, thank you very much!

I went ahead and ordered some kefir grains so hopefully by next week I'll have some goat kefir.

As for the grains and peas and french lentils (that's what I have as well), I might try blending small batches to see if that will suffice. I have a Blendtec so it should get things really finely ground. I may try giving them some of the mix that has been soaked overnight at first. I'm getting some eggs and goat's milk from my neighbor as well.

I love creating in the kitchen, and how nice to have a new outlet!