Do broilers eat a different chick starter than chicks raised for eggs?

[littlelemon]

I order organic feed from a local farmer who is kind enough to share her supply with me. She orders from an organic farmer aboout 4 times a year, so that is when I am also able to get feed. I need to plan ahead to make sure I have enough to last me several months at a time.

This past time I ordered several bags of starter (broiler feed) for my chicks. I noticed on the tag that it said "Feed up to 3 weeks of age". What?!? I thought starter was fed until the chicks were 18-20 weeks. My chicks range from 5-7 weeks now, and I am not really concerned about them being too "old" for the feed, but I am wondering if the more natural feeds usually switch to a layer feed a lot earlier. I am just puzzled. I am actually wondering if it is a printing error! The other possibility is that it is a feed specifically for broilers and maybe broilers switch to a different feed at 3 weeks of age? Anyone raise broilers who knows the answer to this?

The tag says:

Broiler Starter 21%

It is basically corn, oats, wheat, sunflower seed, soybean meal, peas, alfalfa meal, fish meal, oyster shells, and then a bunch of minerals and vitamins which I am not going to take the time to type out.

 

[littlelemon]

Anyone care to comment?

 

[Chris09]

do you have Large fowl or banties?
if you are feeding large fowl you should be ok. I feed a 28% turkey starter to my Large Fowl chicks till there 6 weeks old then they go on a 18 to 20% grower till the first egg then they go on a 16-18 breeder.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
I think you can get by with less protein at that age and that is why it is labeled that way. I feed a high % of protein (24+)all the time without problems. (I think it works very well.)
jamie

 

[quiltnchik]

Shouldn't the next step be a "grower" mixture, which comes before the "layer" mixture? Just curious

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
Dont feed a layer till they ate laying or close to.
Jamie

 

[littlelemon]

Thanks guys! I just wanted to make sure that the extra protein would not hurt my layers, and that my chicks would be okay staying on the starter and skipping the grower. With all the extra I ordered it looks as if they will be on the starter all the way until they start to lay.