uBuilder Plans

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Q - When should I start feeding my chickens more that starter mash? Also, what should I feed them? Just chick feed? Or is there a step in between? My chicks are three weeks old right now.
A - It depends a lot on the end purpose of the chickens and what type of birds they are.
If you have standard size chickens that are going to be for eggs, you should move them to a commercial grower ration with around 15% protein as soon as they are completely feathered out. Studies have shown that hens that are raised in this way grow slower and develop slower. This seems very backwards, however hens raised in this way develop their internal laying structures better, and will actually lay considerably more eggs over their lifetimes, than hens raised on higher protein and grown faster. Provide them with oyster shell and granite grit when the reach 4 month old at a minimum.
Scratch grains are fine for maintaining adults that are kept primarily for pets and for roosters, but you will have better luck with a commercial ration. Scratch grains can be started when the chicks are fully feathered, but add them slowly to the chick feed, and be sure to provide an insoluble grit, like granite grit, along with the whole grains so they can digest them. Many bantam owners use the scratch grains or scratch mixed with cracked corn (chops). Corn has the interesting effect of causing white birds to develop a yellow tint in their feathers, which is called brassiness. It is only a problem if you plan to show your birds.
If you are raising birds for meat, I feed a 24% starter for the first month and then cut back to a 20% starter until I butcher them. I sometimes add whole corn for the last couple of weeks as well to add finish fat to the birds.
With all birds, please be sure to provide a constant supply of fresh clean water at all times, especially when it is hot. I also supply all of my birds with fresh green everyday. They love pesticide free grass clippings, garden weeds, and leftover family veggies. In the winter I provide my hens with a flake of very leafy alfalfa hay (you can even buy sacks of loose alfalfa hay chops, called TNT in my area, at Tractor Supply Company). They love to dig in the hay and eat quite a bit of it when the snow is deep on the ground.
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Q - I have eleven laying hens 5 months old. Martha Stewart said they eat fruit I was wondering if that is true?
I feed my hens chick grower as their main source of food and I also provide cracked corn for them as a treat. I was wondering if they eat fruit like Martha Stewart said they do. My hens are for eggs only, I don't eat them. If you have any info I would like to hear from you...thank you
A- Well first of all if your hens are that old you need to be feeding them a finishing mash approximately 15 percent protein or adding a scratch grain and a granite grit to their diet. Studies show that hens that mature slowly and are not overly fat produce far more eggs over their lifetimes. Be sure and add oyster shell and plenty of greens like grass when they begin to lay.
To answer your question, yes they love fruit. Chickens are omnivores which means they'll eat just about anything. They will not eat potato peels and some say they can even poison a chicken. Everything else seems fair game! They are great garbage disposers and eat my families leftovers in addition to their regular feed. The only thing I don't feed mine, in addition to the potato peels is ...CHICKEN. In addition to that being just GROSS, there is a possibility of passing diseases.
(kinda like mad cow disease) It is great turning wasted food into delicious fresh eggs!
The funniest thing I ever saw MY chickens eat was pizza. We had a power outage and several frozen pizzas were ruined so we fed them to the chickens. How funny to watch a hen in the middle of a pie scratching through the cheese like anything to find the sausage chunks and watching three chickens playing chase and keep-away with a pepperoni.