Why give them mash?

[Blue]

Is mash the same as chick starter. I've always just fed my chicks starter. They can't really forage in a brooder or pen, and my chickens can't free range enough to meet their nutritional needs on their own.

 

[FruitfulFaith]

I was asking because I didn't use mash or chick starter. So I was curious as to what purpose it served... like how sugar in the water perks them up, or some people give Gatorade for electrolytes... what is the significance of "mash"?

 

[Fred's Hens]

All feed is ground into a "mash". Then, it is processed into pellets or crumbles, or left as mash and sold as is. Mash is a colloquial term and sometimes misunderstood. Different feed mills grind the mash more or less fine. Sometimes it is nice and coarse, while other places grind into quite fine powder.

As for feeding chicks commercial or prepared feeds as opposed to simply allowing chicks to search for their own feed? If chicks are raised in a virtually sterile environment of a brooder or pen, there simply isn't anything to eat except that which the flock keeper provides. In some places, the ground is also snow covered for 5 months of the year. There is nothing to eat.

Domesticating a bird for 5000 years does indeed make them quite dependent upon their keepers.

 

[aggiemae]

I think I have stepped into one of those gray areas between raising chickens the old fashioned way and taking your sick $2 chick to the vet XD

Um..I am not sure what you think "mas is" but."mash" is chick food. If you want eggs you are going to have to feed them. Chickens are DOMESTIC birds and unless you have unlimited foraging and it is crawling with insects they will starve.

In some cases the "old fashioned way" is the worst thing you can do in others it's the best practice . As I said before softening the food with water or (in our case) buttermilk) will help the smaller chicks survive those first two weeks and buttermilk or yogurt will significantly reduce "past butt". BTW I've been doing this for over 30 years and have never taken a chicken to the vet.

 

[FruitfulFaith]

Um..I am not sure what you think "mas is" but."mash" is chick food. If you want eggs you are going to have to feed them. Chickens are DOMESTIC birds and unless you have unlimited foraging and it is crawling with insects they will starve.

In some cases the "old fashioned way" is the worst thing you can do in others it's the best practice . As I said before softening the food with water or (in our case) buttermilk) will help the smaller chicks survive those first two weeks and buttermilk or yogurt will significantly reduce "past butt". BTW I've been doing this for over 30 years and have never taken a chicken to the vet. 

I mean "mash" in the capacity of food that is wetted down to create a type of paste rather than granules. This is what I've found people to generally mean when they say "mash."

 

[aggiemae]

I mean "mash" in the capacity of food that is wetted down to create a type of paste rather than granules. This is what I've found people to generally mean when they say "mash."

Wetting the food make it easier for tiny chicks and prevents starvation in otherwise viable newborn chicks. In my experience almost every newborn chick will choose wet food over dry and eat more at the stage where every bite really counts.

 

[nova022]

Making mash is also a good way to get your money's worth out of your feed. There always seems to be some powder at the bottom of the bag just begging to be wetted down to be eaten.

 

[Fred's Hens]

There are folks who make an Quaker Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat type consistency out of their feed. Other folks are using the fermented feed method where the feed is soaked in a fermenting liquid for a few days before being feed to the chickens in a trough. There are several threads here where folks sing the praises of this feeding style.

Serving a mushy, wet feed is different than just filling a large PVC tube with dry pellets. It seems most people feeding a wet mash carry feed out to the birds morning and afternoon. A bit more work, perhaps?

Pellets come unglued pretty easily when soaked, if you wish to serve a wet mush.