My new chicks have arrived and instead of buying the commercial meat chicken feed these ones are going to be grown exclusively on my own feed. Usually we start on the commercial baby chick food then switch to mine about a month later. The four grain feed oats, barley, corn and wheat is my favourite. All local grains, hand mixed, plus my seaweed, mashed boiled eggs, yogurt, DE and dried molasses. No soy at all. 
I have found that my layers lay extremely well on this mix. They are full feathered and healthy and fertile. With cider vinegar and garlic in their water and lots of yogurt milk.
So I will see how the meat chickens grow on a similar recipe. I will increase the protein level add linseed and sunflower seed, grind it up and see how they go. 
The meat chickens are the last to be changed over to my Four Grain mix. The piglets and pigs and even Lady Astor’s milking treats are all a variation of the same theme. My other pig feed is the Sow and Pig from Purina which is leaner, this is made with vegetable proteins but I am trying to get the breeding pigs bellies off so much soy and mysterious fillers.
The layers having a dust bath. 
They love the dust in their feathers.
And I have been talking to a young woman from Washington who is going to come and spend a week with me from next Monday. This is good news as with the wet and the heat and the wind I am being overwhelmed in the gardens. And she is bright and clever and cooks! More on that soon.
I am fostering a pot belly pig from Lori the pig rescue lady.Though not for a few weeks. He was found abandoned, very, very fat – so fat his eyes have closed over and he cannot see and he can barely walk. And he had been poisoned with rat bait. (His owners put it in a bag of corn evidently and left him). Horrible people – just horrible. But he was found somehow and Lori was called and they caught it all in time. (Vets are free to Animal Rescue nonprofits so he is getting the very best care.) He is recovering very slowly and when the vet says it is ok for him to be in the light again (the poison has a caustic affect on the skin evidently and it is peeling off – I will learn more soon) he will come here to recuperate and lose weight. Poor boy.
By fostering he is still in her care – there will be ongoing interventions to get him well again and she will manage all those – but he will live in the sun-room of the barn for a while with the field to exercise in when he is able to walk properly again. And if all goes well he will eventually go to live with Tima and Tane.
Lori is writing all this down for me so I will be more clear on the information soon. But I am calling him Waimarie which means Lucky (Wai for short) and I will keep you up to date.
She said he is depressed down there in her hospital room so we are hoping he does not have to stay too much longer in isolation due to the open burns all over his body from the poison. Poor Wai.
Time to go get my Lady Astor and milk the old cow. She is so good this summer – all I do is call out to her as I walk to the barn, I open all the gates and then go about the preparations and after a while she appears at my elbow in her usual slow lumbering way. None of the others come up – just her. A well trained bunch this year.
Have a lovely day.
Love celi
Weather Forecast: A mixed bag.
Friday 06/16 60% / 0.18 in Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 87F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
The Kitchen's Garden 
59 responses to “Feed for new chicks”
All your gingers in a row- lovely! Have a wonderful day Ms C!
Baby chicks are cute!! they always are!! But ~ where did these Kitty Kooties come from? Darling ~ and great picture!!!
Oh poor poor Wai. Such suffering and crhelty. You cats on the other hand cheer me, looking like a sunny bouquet
Love that you are fostering that poor little piggy. Make sure he wears lots of sunscreen when he finally gets to play in the sun. I grew up on a diary farm here in MN and still live in a rural area so your blog is so fun to read. Love the kitties too!
Love your beautiful kitties! Adorable chicks, and I’m so interested in what you feed them-amazing. Also, hope Wai is better enough to come to you soon. He’ll be so happy with you and everyone else.
He goes to the vet Monday and he is pretty tough to move as he has trouble walking so I said if the vet says yes may as well bring him once they get him up out of the basement – he should be ok above ground now. c
I love the first chick picture. It looks like the chick on the far left is standing looking at the buffet with hands on hips, giving it a good look before tasting. They are so cute. Lucky Wai to be coming to the Farmyard. I hope he does well.
It beggars belief how some people get pets and then abuse them. I’ve known a few cases of very fat potbellied pigs. People think it’s cute to feed them cake and stuff. But it’s not so cute when they become obese… One question: why no soy?
Soy has been linked to a drop in fertility. And chickens need to be fertile to lay well for a long time. Modern soy beans are very high in estrogen. Soy is also hard to digest for mammals (as is corn actually) and both are linked to obesity because un-fermented soy actually blocks the enzymes needed to digest food. Asian soy products are created very differently from the Western soy beans that they are dumping in animal feeds as “the protein”. This is where the confusion comes from. You are what you eat, eats. This is wny i am careful of soy in large amounts.. c
Lots of good action plans in place. Here is hoping that Waimarie makes a strong recovery. How awful some people are – and how generous and loving you are. Keep us posted.
I like the idea of eating chooks fed on your grain mix far more than the commercial blends with who knows what in them – certainly nothing the chooks could ever forage for themselves! I should think they’ll thrive on it if all your other creatures are doing well. I quite fancy their diet myself!
That line-up of ginger furs: what significant looks they’re giving you! “Feed us, feed us, feed us, feed us…” Lovely fuzzy furs!
Yes – this is what I see every morning as they wait for me to bring their breakfast
Some interesting experiments afoot. Hope they all go well. Looking forward to the results. Have a wonderfilled day.
WOW! You have managed to herd and gather CATS also?!?!?!?! When hubby or I are on a wild crazy IT project – we call it herding cats with their tails on fire ….. I think it is good imagery of total chaos…
Your grain mix sounds very healthy and makes me curious if it would be good with warm milk and honey!
YES! I pour the warm milk straight from the cow, a little yogurt and let it soak for a while before feeding it to the pigs! perfect porridge. c
All those chicks are just too adorable! And I love how those cats are posing 😉 such pretty pictures.
I had to look it up, but you have yourself a clowder of cats on that table….as Kate said, feed us!
I just read that word the other day & it had slipped my mind. Thank you for looking it up & using it. Clowder. I have had clowders of cats several times in my life, even four “blondies” once -as we called them-but never got a beautiful clowder pose. This one should go in the calendar.
I wish my grandfather was alive and could tell me what he fed his chickens and pigs. Nothing was bought, I know that. He used to boil potatoes in a huge boiler next to the pig stall. I also remember sugar beets that were put in a Silo to sour but I think those were fed to the cows. Good luck with making your own mixture to feed your animals.
I love the chicks & kitties pics. So charming. And the layers having their good old dust baths. Imagine Dust! After all that Mud. And new friends & projects & missions. Just the things to lift the mood at the Farmy. Carry on.
Yes! I turns to dust fast doesn’t it! c