- Feb 9, 2012
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I'm very new with raising backyard hens. Is it safe to give them wild bird seed as a treat? I've read that the sunflower seeds are good, but what about millet?
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Of course they like the whole grains in the bird seed. It is more like what they would find in nature. However with growing chicks you want them to eat food with at 18%+ protein in it. By adding the bird seed 10% and layer, that is probably 16%you are lowering that level. While the chicks aren't eating the pellets yet, they are most likely eating the fine broken bits from the layer raising the ,calcium level, which can hurt the kidneys. The pullets who most likely are eating the pellets, also don't need the calcium till they are laying. Save the bird seed for a treat and just feed the starter/grower with a calcium supplement on the side till they are all laying.20 lb Wild Bird Food $6.99 at Ollie's. That's the same price as the chicken food at Tractor Supply. It's 100% natural and it's what my chickens want.
Chickens know what is best for them. I put wild food, Dunmore layer pellets & starter/grower in the same trough. The layers eat the layer pellets & wild food. The pullets eat the starter/grower, layer & wild. The chicks eat starter/grower & wild, the wild has chunks of corn big enough to choke a chick but they don't try to eat it. The chicks also eat sand & the bigger ones eat the crushed granite.
I'm very new with raising backyard hens. Is it safe to give them wild bird seed as a treat? I've read that the sunflower seeds are good, but what about millet?