Feeding question

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FeelinFroggie

FeelinFroggie

In the Brooder
Jan 30, 2016
10
0
24
South Alabama
Good afternoon! I have (ahem) acquired a 1 year old laying EE as well as 3 4 month old EE pullets (all non related)...these 4 girls were housed together and fed only a diet of scratch feed and some oyster shells thrown in when the former owner thought about it
somad.gif
..I brought them home and have them separated from my flock of 6 girls. I originally had the 1 year old seperated from the 4 month olds-but all were unhappy so i put them back togetherThese girls deserve to be happy!!...now heres where i am scratching my head...how do i feed them? Do i feed them all grower with free feed oyster shells or do i feed them all layer with free feed oyster shells? I dont want to damage the young ones, but i want to provide for the needs of the laying girl also. Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks so much!
 
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Welcome to BYC.
The grower with oyster shell on the side is the option most of use would use in that situation. They young pullets will only just investigate the oyster shell until they need it. The laying hen will take the shell she needs. Using the layer for all instead, means the pullets will take up more calcium then they need till they start to lay and could led to problems with their kidneys.
 
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Thank you so much for the quick answer! That's what I thought--i have the feeder full of the grower and a smaller cup of oyster shell available...and plenty of fresh water too!
 
I like to feed a 'flock raiser' 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I do grind up the crumbles (in the blender) for the chicks for the first week or so.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer. I adjust the amounts of other feeds to get the protein levels desired with varying situations.

Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

Animal protein (mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided during molting and if I see any feather eating.
 

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