One feed for all chicks, layers and ducks?

[Gone_Country]

I have 21 pullets, 30-5 wk old chicks and 3-2wk old duckies. All my chickens are together outside and the duckies are in a brooder. I want to buy one kind of feed to accomodate all ages. Is it possible? They free range most of the time. Is all purpose ok for the chicks? I'm afraid someone will tell me tht it has too much calcium for the younger ones. Suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

[harvester]

I dont feed commercial feed to anything except a little cob to the goats when they are milking. I dont consider a mixture of natural grains commercial tho. processed chicken layer feed or chick starter or grower is what i referr to as commercial. Any feed that says its specifically for a particular animal i will not feed to anything i own. ive learned over many years that yep, it does ok, however a more natural diet does even better.
there is no rule that says you can not raise chickens on your house scraps. and there is no rule that says you have to raise chickens on a particular commercial diet. thats silliness.
my chickens get house scraps and what they find on range. in tough times (deep winter) they get house scraps and a hand full of grains, be it cob, or whole oats, thats about all i feed to my other animals.
my mother raised her chicks very well on oatmeal and cornmeal. when they were big enough to have feathers and come out from under the light they got house scraps and whatever they could find. they were excellent producers and they were heavy tight feathered beautiful birds. mine are the same.
I figgure if the origonal settlers could do it without fancy feed to their animals then i can too. and its been working out great for years for me.

[fancyfowl]

It all boils down to what you expect of the animals, in my opiniobn.
If those were my chicks/ducklets I would feed them medicated chick starter until they were adult feathered. then I would switch to a quality game bird conditioner, 22% protein, until breeding season then to a game bird breeder. turkey grower is also a very good feed for growing and adult poultry. ducklets need to have a lot of greens in their diet as poultry rations are shy of enuff Niacin for waterfowl. Also don feed waterfowl too much protein as it can cause angel wing where too much blood is in the feather shaft and causes the wings to droop. I expect the most from all my birds so i dont mess wuith only rations designed for the best performance. lay rations are formulated to get the most eggs for the least cost, it is not meant as a forever feed for fowl; layers the feed is formulated for only live thru 1 season, 2 sometimes.
making rations of whole grains and vegetables and meat scraps can be done, many do it and get by, it all depends on what you are expecting to achieve.

[harvester]

Please ask your feed supplier about feeding medicated feed to waterfowl. Most medicated feed will build up in waterfowl and they dont get rid of the extra causing poisoning. They cant process it the same as poultry can.

as far as i know there is no medicated duck feed on the market due to this fact.

talk to the people you got the ducks from and ask what they recommend..most will said gamebird feed.

medicated chick feed will kill your ducks.

when we had large flocks of ducks and geese, turkeys and chickens we stayed away from any medicated feed just to make sure we didnt accidentally kill our ducks. medicated feed is nothing more than antibiotics really. and quite unnecessary and unhealthy to give to a healthy bird. if its not sick dont medicate it. why would anyone medicate a perfectly healthy animal?

[fancyfowl]

*Medicated feed today is Amprol and perfectly safe to use on waterfowl. It is not an antibiotic, it sort of folls the cocci into not surviving intheir system. you can find info by a google search, i have tossed all my web page info about it. It is true that medicated feed years ago was bad for them , it contained arsenic, which of course is also not an antibuiotic. *I stil;l have some arsenic and do use it once in a great while for starting some chicks which I might want to get BIG, FAST . *It makes them grow too fast for good long term health tho.
*Some of my Call ducks bring $125 a pair so I sure wouldnt feed them med feed if i thought it might kill them!!!

Harvester,
I'm not just picking on ya, I hope you know that!! I do see sometimes things which are not as they used to be now such as the feeds issue. A couple friends are poultry scientists, one a feeds specialist and another a poultry geneticist, I get some pretty good and reliable info from them. My fault is I see all animals as from the standards of perfection so something that is called a breed but has the wrong color or conformation is not that breed to me. I reckon I am picky.

[Anon001]

Fancyfowl,

Obviously you are educated about your birds nutritional needs. *I worked in the feed industry (farmers coops) for several years. *I cannot count the number of seminars and technical lectures I attended dealing with nutritional needs of various birds and the various commercial feeds to fill those needs. *

Throwing food scraps out to chickens is fine, but I guarantee that is not all they are living on. *A chicken can survive without you giving it any feed at all once it is an adult.

So, Gone Country, I would follow FancyFowl's suggestions. *The idea is the long term health and viability of your birds and what you feed them in the first few weeks of life will have the biggest influence with them....long term.

I will say that once my chicks are adults, then they get cracked corn or a cracked corn and cracked milo with wheat mixture... and only about a cup ful for every three or four birds... *But my chickens are not prize chickens and they are 100% free range as far as they stay out all day, every day. * They are never even shut up. *The dogs protect them. *So, the majority of their nutritional needs are met far better by what they find than what I am giving them. LOL *OH, I also forgot, they congregate under my bird feeders and get a lot of feed that way, too. LOL

[AlchemyAcres]

I've raised (and foraged for) my own poultry feed for several years....
Free-range chickens and ducks don't need a lot in the way of grains during mild weather.
I feed what's mostly and basically diverse 'scratch' grain....amaranth...naked pumpkin seeds..oats..millet..rye...wheat...peas...acorns.. .etc....excess milk and scraps...they get the biggest share of their feed free-ranging.


~Martin

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I mix cracked corn with the goat feed and just use it for every one. The chickens prefer the goat pellets (molasses taste?) while the ducks like the corn best. They all free range, so they eat bugs and worms or whatever all day. Even the baby chicks and rabbits will eat the cracked corn and sweet feed mix.
I have to be careful with letting the rabbits eat it too often. They refuse pellets if you let them get too much goat feed. They like the sweeter taste of goat feed better.

[fancyfowl]

Martin, what kind of naked pumkin do you grow ?? Some one gave ne a few Styrian? seeds last year but I forgot to plant them and will try them this season. They are supposed to be good for the prostate??

[AlchemyAcres]

Martin, what kind of naked pumkin do you grow ?? Some one gave ne a few Styrian? seeds last year but I forgot to plant them and will try them this season. They are supposed to be good for the prostate??

This year I'm growing just one cultivar.
Little Greenseed from the Long Island Seed Project.
It's a selection from a mass cross of naked seeded cultivars that isn't completely stable yet.

I'll compare it to other cultivars I've grown in the past like Lady Godiva, Styrian, Triple Treat, Kakai and Baby Bear (semi-hulless).


Yeah....the 'green' oil is allegedly very healthful.


~Martin