I have 3 week old chicks. Can I start supplimenting thier commerical chick feed with vegetables peelings (apple, carrot peelings, etc.)? Is there anything else I can feed?

Sure am glad the forum is back up. I sure did miss it! I didn't realize how much until it was down for 2 days. Good to be home!!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), October 25, 2001

Answers

I feed my baby chicks all kinds of veggie and fruits , bread ,cottage cheese and old milk .Never had a problem.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 25, 2001.

Their innards really aren't developed enough to handle other stuff. Be patient! It'll come soon enough!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 25, 2001.

Anything that's small enough to fit down their throats! (including the consideration that pecking at it will remove pieces small enough to fit - although that applies better to adult birds - chickens don't yet have the beaks and the muscles). If that doesn't include the scraps you've got, then consider a mincing machine (or meat grinder or whatever you call it there). Chickens are designed and bred to be omnivores, and if they CAN eat it then it is suitable for them TO eat.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 25, 2001.

Snashed hard boiled eggs -then tiny grass clippings,then spaghetti & everything the others said. Even dry milk. P S my favorite news is on americanfreedomnews.com,just as CS is my favorite mag.

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), October 26, 2001.

I agree with boiled eggs chopped up. Mine also like chopped-up grapes and strawberry tops.

-- Tracey in Alabama (trjlanier@cs.com), October 26, 2001.

For the first week, I just stick with mashed up boiled egg yolks, kelp, and crumbles. The babies are still working out how to eat at that time and I find that the moistness of the yolks helps them to pick up the feed better. The kelp gives them a boost of nutrients (I just use Northern Atlantic kelp, and only a pinch at that although they can't really overdose).

At week 2, though, they're usually on crumbles and kelp only. However, because that's when the beneficial bacteria in chickens' systems begin to colonize, I feed them 1/8 teaspoon of live culture (no artificial flavor) Yogurt. Usually I either mix it back in some egg yolk, or with the crumbles. That way you make sure the GOOD bacteria have more of a chance of taking hold of the gut than the bad do. The good bacteria will therefor help to crowd OUT the bad bacteria and make the chicks more able to develope immunity to coccidia instead of getting coccidiosis.

I do the yogurt once a week until the birds are 5 months, then I move it personally to once a month at the least. I'll also sometimes use Probios, a livestock probiotic powder, at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per adult bird up to once a day.

I've found that my chicks have much better rate of growth and, more importantly, a better proportioned growth when they have the good bacteria to help them use their feed better. I hope that it helps yours as much as it helps mine!

Nathalie Ross in Houston TX

-- Nathalie Ross (threehorses@katworld.com), October 26, 2001.

I agree that baby chicks at three weeks should be able to eat those scraps.. just chop them up. I used to cook up big batches of "chick slop" back when I'd raise a few hundred at a time. I was poor as a church mouse so I'd augment fine scratch with protien by cooking up the leavings from butchering. I'd use my pressure canner to cook the butcher scraps then mix it with alfalfa for plant protien, scratch, kelp (from the beach in my case), and whey from my cheesemaking. I'd freeze this finely mashed glop in plastic bags and thaw one a day for the chicklets, slowly adding more and more grains over the eight weeks before butchering or sending them off to be replacement pullets.

Dirt is very important for gut health.. they need to innoculate their wee guts right away. Salmonella hasn't a chance against a gut full of healthy soil bacteria.. which is why the battery chicken people are spraying a "bacteria cocktail" innoculant on hatchlings now.

-- Ellen Wright (gardenfarm@earthlink.net), October 26, 2001.

As soon as you start to feed chicks anything but finely ground chick starter, be sure to include some grit. For the babies I get sand from our creek--it starts on our farm where we use no 'cides so I know it's "clean" for them. Sprinkle it like salt on the mashed egg, or whatever is moist so it will stick and be more likely for the chicks to eat it. All the rest of these ideas are very good and I've been keeping chickens a good while. Thanks

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 27, 2001.