What to Feed Chicks & Hens
Chicks
I feed babies Purina Medicated Chick Starter which protects them from Coccidiosis — a nasty parasite that can take your darlings from healthy to dead in two hours.
Speckled Sussex Chicks at Flower Feather Farm
Juveniles and Adults
When they are older, I ferment Natural Farm Feed’s Broiler/Grower which I buy via group buy organized by Farmette Outiftters. Fermenting doubles its volume and adds nutrition.
The group buy communication hub is the Natural Farm Feeds at Flower Feather Farm, Laurel If you don’t like Facebook, you can still buy from through the co-op but you will need to sign up for Feed Emails and visit the Feed FAQ page on this website to keep track of when to order and when to pick-up.
When they are at point-of-lay or when they join the adult flock, you can switch to fermented Natural Farm Feeds Premium Layer, as long as you don’t have roosters in the flock. If you do have roosters, you don’t want to feed them the calcium that is in the layer feed, as they have no way to get rid of any excess. We do have roosters, so we just keep them on the Natural Farm Feeds Premium Broiler product.
Fermenting
SCOBY: symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeast.
Fermenting cuts my feed bill in half. We fill a five gallon bucket 1/3 full of water and add feed until the bucket is 2/3 full. Stir well and leave out for a day or two, depending on how warm the weather is.
We don’t cover it as the fermenting process relies on airborne yeasts and bacterias to form the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). The SCOBY will form on the top of the bucket and will look like a slimy mess. It’s all good. When the SCOBY has puffed up and has a tangy smell, like sourdough, we stir the scoby into the feed and serve it to our birds. They love it and it is so healthful for both them and for our budget.
We usually have two to buckets going at a time for 90-100 birds. We always make sure to leave some starter in the bucket and then just refill it with roughly equal parts feed and water (this will change with the weather) and leave it to stew over-night. In the winter, we have to add a little heat. You can read about Preparing Your Chickens for Winter here.
Scaly Leg Mites (SLM): painful, itchy, and depletes the birds of resources.
You’ve ordered your chicks and set your pick-up appointment. Now what?
Now is a great time to do a little reading so that you are well-equipped to take excellent care of your little ones.
As chick season heats up, I want to talk to you about Chick Flippers. These are people who place large orders from commercial hatcheries, have the chicks shipped in, and then list them for sale at a HUGE mark-up on Craigslist etc. They don’t disclose . . .
Please oh please don't use a feather duster. Yes, they will love it, but when you find the one that got tangled in it and hung herself, you will feel awful.
Which Natural Farm Feed Product Should I Buy For My Chickens? Layer? Premium Layer? Broiler? Premium Broiler?
Well that depends on many things, chiefly the weather and what does your outside set-up entail.
The rule of thumb is that they need to be ten weeks old if the over-night low is going to be around 30.
That said, I put them out at four weeks at about any time of year. What? Yes. Four weeks, with supplemental heat.
How we ferment the Natural Farm Feed for our chickens here at Flower Feather Farm.
One of my customers — a first-time chicken dad — glibly remarked, “I think I’ll get into breeding, how hard can it be?” One of my more diplomatic friends responded, “You would be surprised.”
No, this is not a dating guide. If you are looking for your soulmate, volunteer with an organization that aligns with your values and priorities. All those other volunteers are your pre-filtered field of candidates. Now, back to chicks . . .
Dalia Monterroso, local resident and President of Chickenlandia, just published a book: “Let's All Keep Chickens!: The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds and a Happier World”.
”Readers will learn how to plan their flock, how to raise baby chicks, what to look for in a chicken coop, how to keep chickens healthy naturally, and more.”
Finding that little string and unzipping the bag on the first try . . . ahhhhhhhh.
Are you just planning on just one round of chicks? Let me save you the trouble of gathering up all the necessary supplies.
Great question. Chick prices vary according to availability, quality, and investment.
I have been contacted dozens of times in the last few weeks by people wanting pullets and laying hens, and with the price of eggs, I understand. The trick is, that here at Flower Feather Farm, available pullets are far and few between.
I’ve shared quite a few of my best tips and tricks for setting up a chick brooder, but what about the next step? When they are too little to just toss into the big girl coop, but too big stinky to stay in the house.
At this point, I put them in the big girl coop, with accomodations.
I house birds of different ages together regularly. Here is how I introduce them.
Did you know that you have the opportunity to participate in a Natural Farm Feeds Feed Co-op near you?
Stella Stargazer: before and after Selenium treatment for wry neck.
I kept hoping the warm weather would get here before avian bird flu did, but alas, both cool wet weather and bird flu are headed our way.
We had a great hatch this weekend: 47 eggs went into the hatcher, 46 chicks came out.
100% fertility. 100% hatch rate. And a cute kitten.
New Year, New Floofs: Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Ameraucanas and Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Marans
Brooder set-up tips, encore.
Now available at Flower Feather Farm!
How to help her, and better yet, how to minimize the occurrences of sticky chick.
Surprise! You are a mama!
Medicated Chick Starter and Fermented Feed.
Girl Chick? Boy Chick? How is one to know?
Sexing chicks. Alas, not as easy as we would wish.