I had heard that chickens were cannibalistic from a number of sources before I started raising them, but I always thought that meant that they would eat chicken meat or eggs if you fed that to them. An I knew they pecked at each other, but I always thought that was more of a social hierarchy development mechanism more than an attempt to eat each other, but Twain Lockhart (poultry feed specialist for Cargill) painted a different picture for me.
Twain started by answering a few questions about feed, mostly the difference between the baby chick feed I was feeding my hens, and the feed I should start feeding them when they start laying eggs. The egg laying feed formula, according to Twain has a lot more calcium in it because the hens use a lot of calcium to produce eggs. A hen low in calcium might lay eggs with very thin shells, or even no shells at all. Sometimes a chicken owner might even have to supply ground sea shells for the hens to eat–which they will eat if they know they are low on calcium.
The baby chicks, however need something different. Baby chicks need a formula rich in protein to help them grow. In addition to the soy and corn that are the base of the feed, there is also some pork and ground beef bone in the mix to provide the 21-26% protein Twain says is essential to baby chick growth. If the baby chicks feel like they are low on protein, it could spell trouble for the other chicks.
Twain says that when the chicks are low on protein, they peck at each other to try to get feathers which are high in protein. If by mistake, they happen to draw blood, the other chicks will see it and gang up on it and likely kill it. Here is a video of chicks fighting over a piece of mozzarella cheese I found on YouTube. Keep in mind, the chicks in this video are going for the cheese. Imagine what would happen if they were out for blood.
Twain, who prefaced his statement with “no one should ever do this”, said that even if one were to take a red felt-tipped marker and put a red dot on a baby chick, the other chicks would probably kill it and eat it.
In addition to giving your chicks regular feed, Twain says they will eat pretty much any edible green that grows in your yard, and that they love crickets and meal worms. He even says when they get bigger, they will catch small lizards and mice. I have yet to see any of my hens catch anything bigger that a worm, but I really don’t know what they do all day while they are out in the yard. I am just glad that I fed them properly and they didn’t turn on each other for a carnal dose of protein.
My Backyard Chickens 
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