Help! Newbie here and chicks are coming today!

[Soap Junkie]

I have been reading back and forth over the last year on backyardchickens.com and I finally decided on Friday to jump in! I ordered 7 chicks from a grain co-op and was expecting them on Friday (my mistake!) but they just called and told me they are in! I thought I would have the week to study but I guess not!

So... I have decided not to use commercial grain for my chickens. Been reading a lot about what you can feed them, but it is difficult since nearly all of the things I read use commercial feed. I read that you can feed them cooked eggs, cooked oatmeal and cooked brown rice. I believe they are week old hatchlings so no insects yet? Someone please chime in and give me some info or a place to go to and read about it. I know I need to give them lots of protien, calcium and carbohydrates but not sure what to feed the little ones? Plan to do free range when they get bigger.

Anyone got anything for me PLEASE!

 

[ORChick]

In my opinion you should forget trying to avoid commercial chick food for this lot, as it sounds like you aren't quite prepared for that yet. Get a sack of unmedicated chick food, organic if available and if thats what you want, and get those chicks fed. Use that time to research how you want to continue feeding them as they grow, and how you will manage the next lot of chicks. Just because you are using commercial feed doesn't mean you can't supplement with other things as you learn about them, and certainly doesn't mean that you have to continue feeding the commercial feed forever. What is important right now (or very soon) is to have something for the chicks to eat that will cover their nutritional needs, and until you know more your best bet would be an already made up feed.
Good luck with the chicks, and

 

[Soap Junkie]

Thank you for the response. Can young chicks eat bugs? what is the first time I could intoduce bugs to them? I am spending the day gettting educated and not many people want to respond, none at all from BYC at all. I guess it is just not popular to do it yourself huh?

I really appreciate your response!

 

[ORChick]

You'll find that people here are very into DIY, but perhaps your post hasn't been seen by many of them yet. I don't know about the bugs, but I imagine so; I'm sure that Mama Hen doesn't keep them away from bugs . I'm working on transitioning away from commercial feed myself at the moment, but the little girls in the brooder are still getting food from the store. They grow so fast that I would be very hesitant about anything else, unless I were very sure that I was fulfilling their nutritional needs properly. But they have *told* me that dandelion greens are delicious! Make sure you give them grit (small grit) if they are eating anything other than commercial feed.

 

[freemotion]

I agree with ORChick, get a small bag of unmedicated starter just to buy yourself a little time. They've been on it for a week, anyways.

Then you need to learn a bit about the protein requirements of growing chicks (no calcium supplements for babies) and know the protein levels of the grains available to you. If you do a search here, you will find detailed discussions of feeding poultry whole grains and feeding them a more natural diet. Lots of good info already typed in, so feel free to resurrect any of those older threads, too, if you still have questions after reading them. I know I've posted quite a bit on this....so you can put my name in the search, too, to get some of what I do.

As for bugs, the mama hen will feed her new chicks a diet almost exclusively of small worms. I didn't see my broody hens catch bugs for their chicks, but rather, scratched up worms. I would use a spading fork and help her with this task. She has better eyesight than me, but I can dig deeper than she can.

My newly hatched chicks are getting a coarsely ground mix of spelt, corn, and oats (what I had here) and once a day I put a piece of cardboard in their brooder with some finely mashed and well-cooked meat and crushed bones with marrow leftover from making traditional broth after making batches of catfood. I saved this meat/bone mixture in small bags in my freezer for just this purpose. They are doing great on it. I put in enough for them to all have plenty with a little left over by the time they go nap, then they clean up the rest before I check on them again. So no rotting meat in their brooder.

You must add grit in the form of crushed granite (chick or pigeon size) for them if you are feeding more than commercial mash. I sprinkle it in the feeder with the grain and a little over the meat.

I would feed them worms instead but I can't see the tiny ones when I spade my gardens....and my adult hens are quicker than I am, anyways! They will have no problem learning to free-range later. Although broody-raised chicks eat almost no food from me throughout spring, summer, and fall.

I feed my adult birds whole grains and sprouted small grains in the winter for their protein needs, along with any meat/fat scraps from my kitchen.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, and I will start introducing some whole small grains around day 10, they will all be eating them whole (except corn) by day 14. I will still coarsely grind the corn until they can handle it a few weeks later.

I gleaned some sorghum last fall and have it stashed for chick feeding, as it is a very small grain. I'll let ya know how that goes, but I expect it to be successful.

 

[Soap Junkie]

Thank you so much for the response! Very informative and I will look up your name to do some searchs. I am going to start them on oatmeal (ground but not powder) some brown rice (cooked) and some hard boiled eggs for right now. I may pick up a bag of organic started if its not to expensive until I get a better understanding of there needs. But I thought they might enjoy some small crickets too. I have a son who is into reptiles and amphibians and he may start me a worm farm to help for the winter. I also have right now a fresh box of orgainc greens that I could feed them, in small amounts. I get it for sure that they need protien and lots of it! No calcium right now. I will keep reading and learning for myself what works, and of course keep reading this sight and BYC!

Thanks for the information I think I just freaked out for a minute when the lady from the co-op called and said they are here!

 

[Soap Junkie]

Update! They are soooooo Cute!! I was suppose to get 7 but I came home with10??!! They sure do poop a lot! Chanaged out the cage 2 times already!

They love the ground up Oatmeal, eating like crazy. I groud up a hard boiled egg this morning but they didnt really touch it. So I mixed it with the ground oats and also ground up a bit of raw sunflower seeds. I will see how much they eat when I get home from work.

I have a lot of dried herbs such as Nettles, Dandelion, and Chickweed that I was using myself to make tea's and I thought that I could grind some of this up for them too. Only concern is that besides high protien levels they are also high in calcium so is this something I should wait to feed them until they are maybe 6 weeks or older? I was suprised when I asked the lady at the elevator how old they are and she told me 1 day! I dont know why I was thinking they would be at least a week old!

Going to make them some lentels tonight and looking for some other high protien foods to feed to them.

If anyone has knowlege of the nettles or other herbs being bad please chim in. Is it that we should not add extra calcium until they get older or limit the calcium intake all together until they are older?

Thank you!!

 

[lorihadams]

They like clover and grass cut up really small with a pair of scissors.

How old are the chicks and where are the pictures???

 

[Soap Junkie]

I only have my phone camera and I dont have a clue how to down load photos!
They are so cute! They are now 2 days old. I am really trying to find feed for them that is as natural as can be. I know that the nettles are organic and I thought with such a high protein content they might be good but they also have a lot of calcium.

This is starting to feel futile...........