Hi, i have two roosters, a white silkie and a golden sebright. they both are about 6 and 1/2 mos old. i dont know which food to get them. ive never had chickens before so i need help with what type of feed to buy them. thanks if you could, email me at spitfire724@aol.com thanks

I feed mine a preblended layer mash. I buy it at my local feed store and it is 18% protein. Do you have a feed mill by you where you live? My chickens love cooked pasta as a treat! Try it, mine actually come when I call as I trained them with pasta and other goodies!
A good reference book for you would be Gail Demerow's Guide to Raising Chickens(Published by Storey books). The book helped me when I first started!

I think Heidi is wayyyyy wrong. You should only feed your ROOSTERS chicken scratch. THats all that they need. Now chickens on the other hand can have layer ration. That is it.

Also you should believe me because I've raised chickens for years.

I would feed my roosters the same ration I would feed layers: 16% layer mash and lots of clean water. They could have treats such as whole grains, too, and in greater quantity than hens, but I would keep the layer mash as the main ration because it's balanced and contains vitamins and trace minerals. For scratch, I would feed no more than they would clean up once a day, preferably in the evening before roosting time. For two bantams, try about 1/4 cup and see if they leave any before going up on the roost. Good luck.

thanks very much for your help!

I don't currently have a rooster, but when I did, he ate the layer mash with the other hens. I can't imagine giving a rooster just corn scratch. Not much nutrition there.

Glad to see you guys agree with me! Jessman, no offence to you at all, but how do you figure that the roosters do not require the same protein amount as a hen? Its a known thing that too much scratch is like giving candy to a baby! My 2 roosters eat layer feed and free-range as well and look healthy & beautiful!

I think the idea of feeding roosters just scratch grain is probably still widely practiced among some old-timers. I know there are some feed stores around my area that ONLY sell scratch and no crumble pellet feed at all! I definitely think a rooster deserves balanced/good nutrition though and I would also get the layer ration for them. They aren't taxing their bodies as much as a hen but they still need good protein to have healthy bodies, good feathers, etc. Most of these ideas about chickens started when all that mattered was the money (feed conversion) and a rooster wasn't worth a nickel. But for most of us here, they are pets and we want them to be healthy and happy. Go for the balanced ration!

Susie

And what are you going to do anyway, tell the rooster "now you stay out of that layer ration, young man, or it's the stew pot for you!" LOL. Unless you keep them separate. My birds are lucky to have one coop and run, much less two!