Fancy Feeds Chick Crumb Complete Young Poultry feed, 5 kg

Fancy Feeds Chick Crumb – 5kg

The 5kg bag is the one for a small hatch. Chick crumb is fed for six to eight weeks and no longer, and a broody hen with eight chicks under her will never get through a 20kg sack in that window — the bag would stand open for weeks, losing vitamin content while they ate it.

The crumb itself is Fancy Feeds' standard starter, declared at 19% protein and built on wheat and extracted soya bean meal, with Bio-Mos prebiotic at 8g/kg and Sel-Plex organic selenium. It is medication free, which means it carries no coccidiostat, and it is fed ad lib on its own rather than mixed through with grain.

Performance & Benefits

• Fancy Feeds declare 19% protein, from wheat and extracted soya bean meal.
• Bio-Mos prebiotic at 8g/kg, supporting gut health while the digestive system is still establishing.
• Sel-Plex organic selenium for antioxidant defence and immunity.
• Methionine declared at 0.4% — the amino acid that limits feather and muscle growth in young birds.
• Medication free, so it carries no coccidiostat.
• 5kg bag gets used up inside the six to eight week feeding window instead of standing open.

Suitable For

• Chicks from hatching to six or eight weeks of age.
• Ducklings and goslings.
• A broody hen's clutch, or a first small batch under a lamp.
• Keepers who would rather buy a fresh small bag for each hatch.
• Far too little calcium for adult laying birds — Fancy Feeds Layers Pellets is the ration for those, and only from 18 to 21 weeks.

Feeding

• Fed from hatching up to six or eight weeks of age.
• Best fed ad lib, and not mixed with additional grain or mixed corn.
• Provide insoluble flint grit, which grinds feed in the gizzard, from the start. Oyster shell is a shell-calcium supplement for laying hens and is not wanted at this age.
• Move on to Fancy Feeds Growers Pellets at six to eight weeks.
• Fresh, clean water within reach of the smallest chick at all times.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition, as declared by Fancy Feeds: wheat, extracted soya bean meal, wheatfeed, micronised soya, alfalfa meal, dicalcium phosphate, soya oil, vitamins and minerals, calcium carbonate, Bio-Mos prebiotic at 8g/kg, Sel-Plex. 5kg.
• Protein 19%. Oil 4.0%. Fibre 4.0%. Ash 6.0%.
• Copper 25mg/kg. Niacin 52mg/kg. Methionine 0.4%.
• Vitamin A 12,000 IU/kg. Vitamin D3 4,000 IU/kg. Vitamin E 60 IU/kg.
• Fancy Feeds publish no calcium or sodium figure for this crumb, so none is stated here.

Care & Caution

• Never feed a layers ration to chicks. Layers feed carries a high calcium level for shell formation, and that calcium damages the kidneys of a bird that is not yet laying. It is a genuine welfare problem, not a technicality.
• Do not mix corn or grain through the crumb. A chick that fills up on corn does not get the protein it needs, and growth lost at this stage is not made up later.