What can I feed little chicks If I have no access to chick starter?

[Ray987]

Hello everyone this is my first post around here
I've started incubating eggs 13 days ago and I'm almost ready to receive my new lil chicks but I have one problem which is chicken feed, can you raise chicks without chick starter? here we can't shop online for it and I couldn't find any good quality feed (chick starter) in the local stores, all the feed on the market over here I would say is pretty bad/low quality, when my chicken hatched 11 chicks they wouldn't even eat the feed I bought for them, i tried buying different brands but same thing they just wouldn't eat it that's how I assumed the feed is bad, I've been feeding them crushed grains (soy beans, wheat, corn, white corn, oatmeal) I just crush it to tiny pieces and give it to the chicks also I give them fruits as snacks and then they're 10 days old I started letting them free range too, it seems to be working well but I'm wondering if there's anything else I could feed them, a simple recipe to keep them healthy maybe?

 

[Brittbee]

All flock feed. I've used that with all of my chicks and it worked really well.

 

[Ray987]

All flock feed. I've used that with all of my chicks and it worked really well.

As I mentioned we don't have all that here, I live in a third world country, we can't shop online nor have tractor supply or anything

 

[TillyPeeps]

As I mentioned we don't have all that here, I live in a third world country, we can't shop online nor have tractor supply or anything

Google DIY chick feed. There are lots of recipes online. Even you may not be able to find all ingredients, you at least will have some ideas and may find somethings as replacement. Don't give your chickens uncooked soy beans or other beans which are hard for them to digest.

 

[Perris]

Hello everyone this is my first post around here
I've started incubating eggs 13 days ago and I'm almost ready to receive my new lil chicks but I have one problem which is chicken feed, can you raise chicks without chick starter? here we can't shop online for it and I couldn't find any good quality feed (chick starter) in the local stores, all the feed on the market over here I would say is pretty bad/low quality, when my chicken hatched 11 chicks they wouldn't even eat the feed I bought for them, i tried buying different brands but same thing they just wouldn't eat it that's how I assumed the feed is bad, I've been feeding them crushed grains (soy beans, wheat, corn, white corn, oatmeal) I just crush it to tiny pieces and give it to the chicks also I give them fruits as snacks and then they're 10 days old I started letting them free range too, it seems to be working well but I'm wondering if there's anything else I could feed them, a simple recipe to keep them healthy maybe?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/

 

[Al Gerhart]

Scrambled eggs.

 

[Penpal]

I am feeding my corn meal (that you use to make corn bread), chia seeds, quinoa seeds. You can also use amaranth (pigweed) and some other small seeds. When they get big enough they will get oats, wheat, and corn, along with buckwheat and sunflower seeds.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's hard to give you advice without knowing where you are and what's available near you. Maybe if you gave us a list of your options - like what feeds are available to you and what's in them - we could advise you better. Homemade feeds are hard to get right, specifically the correct balance of nutrients. It's better than the chicks starving or eating just corn, obviously, but not great long-term unless you really know what you're doing. I'm sure there are people in your country/region who keep chickens and who have figured out how to feed them. Maybe ask a local farm?

 

[Ray987]

Google DIY chick feed. There are lots of recipes online. Even you may not be able to find all ingredients, you at least will have some ideas and may find somethings as replacement. Don't give your chickens uncooked soy beans or other beans which are hard for them to digest

It's hard to give you advice without knowing where you are and what's available near you. Maybe if you gave us a list of your options - like what feeds are available to you and what's in them - we could advise you better. Homemade feeds are hard to get right, specifically the correct balance of nutrients. It's better than the chicks starving or eating just corn, obviously, but not great long-term unless you really know what you're doing. I'm sure there are people in your country/region who keep chickens and who have figured out how to feed them. Maybe ask a local farm?

I'm located in Syria, have access to a very short list of ingredients like wheat, corn, peas, soy beans and few other grains that's about it, I can't tell you the ingredients of the feed that's on the market they simply don't list the ingredients on the package or anything and the brands are unknown, locally made, unknown sources pretty much, I have a neighbor who hatched same time as me and they fed the chicks groats (burgle) soaked in warm water + free ranging because they also couldn't find proper feed, their chicks seems to be doing very well but I wanted to give my chicks something better than just 1 ingredient

 

[Penpal]

Chicks will also eat bugs. If you can give them access to bugs they would love that. Gnats (tiny flies) larvae, earthworms... The will eat flower seeds. Not all flower seeds, but it is a start.