feeding frustration

I am so frustrated with trying to feed my chickens. There HasTo Be aBetter way! I want to feed organic and I want to have Broody mamas which means chicks and birds of different ages all together. They only like some of the organic feed most of it the powdery stuff I have to doctor with milk or water to entice them. The adults want to eat the grower feed. The young ones are always getting chased away from the feeders. I have feeders everywhere trying to get the proper nutrition into everybody. I end up standing guard so the younger ones can get fed. I have barred rocks who are still laying soft shelled eggs even though I have oyster shell everywhere. Jon W suggested asking Omega Blue how they do it. So I am asking. and anyone else who has solved this problem. I remember coming across a post by Cynthia about having different age birds but haven't been able to find it since

there are two issues here,

1) feeding mixed ages and

2) feeding organic feeds

feeding mixed ages can be as complicated or as simple as you wish. If you want the chicks to eat special feed, just get some small lengths of wire mesh, different sizes for diffeent size birds. I use stucco wire for babies. There are many creative ways to use the mesh to create barriers, but one way may be to build a small box with two opposing sides and a top. Put the mesh on the other two sides. Then place chick starter under box.



the organic feed question is a much bigger one. I'm on a listserve where more serious organic growers share their experiences and basically, you are not alone. I used their organic feed roughly a decade ago and found that it was simply bad for my birds. smelled rancid to me and birds wouldn't eat it. I've never used it since. I assume the shelf life issue has been resolved but still there is something in the formulation that just isn't right. Most organic growers suffer a loss in production with that feed and that is something that simply does not make sense. Organic should mean healthier and healthier should mean better performance, not worst.

If the chickens are not as healthy on the organic feed, what does that say about the food they supply you?

Therefore the question for you is this, what is more important to you? an "organic" label? or healthier food?

Omega Blue Farms wrote:If the chickens are not as healthy on the organic feed, what does that say about the food they supply you?

Who exactly is this "they" that you refer to?

sorry, should have been more clear.

This is really a BC topic where the majority of the organic chicken feed is coming from Otter Co-op. I'm only speaking in reference to that product.

Ok, now I understand thanks. A few of us here in Alberta had a similar issue with a feed mill selling poor quality soy-free feed.

Hard to meet a goal like organic or soy-free when we have so few options and what the suppliers give us is often no good for our birds.

I have a solution to part of your problem. You need a `creep feeder`for your chikcs. I do this with mine and it works like a charm. I have an old wire dog crate. I cut out a couple of vertical wires (well ok, they were broken, but I did add a few more spaces) so that the holes were just big enough for a chick. I put a waterer and a chick food feede in there. Voila. The chicks can go in and feed, but the adults cant.

What do you do when some of the chicks get to be 12 or 14 weeks old and still should be getting grower feed? I have read that layer feed is bad for them. I am not sure if grower feed is bad for the adult birds. right now they all seem to be getting some of each. I love the dog crate Idea for my 5 week old ones.

By 12-14 weeks they're getting close to laying age - I don't think layer will be bad for them by then.
Stucco wire works as well as the dog cage; the spacinng allows chicks to run in and out, but keeps out the hens. You could clip out bits of wire as they grow.

"Therefore the question for you is this, what is more important to you? an "organic" label? or healthier food?"

That really was not a rhetorical question, the balance of the feed options answer is dependant on your answer.



Oh, and with 12-14 week chicks, the answer is pretty simple. Either feed them the same thing or keep them in seperate pens. It's not uncommon to have flocks divided three ways.

1) layers
2) pullets
3) cockrels

Running all together may not be as effective, but it certainly is a method that has worked on several farms throughout history. Just eat the surplus cockrels before they terrorize your hens and pullets. That will have a greater significance on overall flock health than any feed choices.