Can I feed the mama hen starter feed?

[poseygrace]

I have a broody setting on several eggs. After she hatches them, I am going to move the mama and babies to a small coop/run by themselves. I will obviously feed starter mash to the chicks, but can the Mama eat it too? Should I try to separate her a few times a day so she can eat layer feed? I know the little ones can't have layer, but is it OK for the mama to have starter? Thanks!

 

[gryeyes]

Yup.

It's perfectly fine for her, and probably GOOD for her as well, as she will have been living on diminished rations during her "confinement." Higher in protein.

 

[Eggs-quisite Eggs-cursion]

If you end up with medicated chick starter, you may want to keep find out how long you should wait before you start eating her eggs, once she starts laying again in a couple of months, because you won't want to eat eggs from a medicated hen. She'll do very well on chick starter until she starts laying eggs again in 6-10 weeks (depending on her prolactin production which will slowly drop off right before she starts laying eggs again).

I've tried this with probably 10 hen/chick groups and it sure seems to work out great, though we use non-medicated because it seems that usually chicks raised with their moms don't seem to get sick from coccidia. We raise them on grass with their moms. I have no idea about chicks raised in a building with their mom.