Feed hen and roo

[DebinCR]

I second what kcan2 says above. Feed Flockraiser or All Flock once you're out of layer feed, with oyster shell and grit on the side. Thats the basic solution, although folks have variations. Also, you can feed their egg shells back to them. I like to bake them in the oven to kill any germs especially if I get eggs from any other source. But after baking, I crush them up, and then they can eat the egg shells like they eat the oyster shell.

As far as search terms I don't know, you might try "rooster, flockraiser, all flock, feeding, calcium for rooster, rooster feed?" Make sure you search the forum that deals with feeding, or you can navigate to that forum, and then run a search and tell it to search within that forum. There are links that the site suggests to similar posts on the bottom of each thread - I've found those to be super helpful, kinda stumble upon a lot of great related info that way. Also the What's New button at the top - someone asks this question off and on pretty regularly.

Good luck!!!

My chicks love baked, crushed eggshells. I put them in the blender on low-to-medium and they're ready very fast!

 

[kodster]

I've done it both ways, Purina's FlockRaiser, for this reason, and then just said screw it, I feed Purina's Free Range Laying Feed, which is what ALL of them would get if they were out free-ranging, no matter what. I never noticed any problems with my roos eating it, and they were 5 years old, until the hard winter got them ALL one season... sustained sub-zero temperatures and trying to keep their coop warm enough for them was a total failure, so I had to start all over the following spring.

 

[Mamagirl3]

I feed 20% Purina Flockraiser crumble to hens and roosters pre-laying and just about to lay. I'll continue after laying for as long as I can find that feed. Took the recommendation of several folks on here that have done tons more research than I have for brand and protein content. Wish they had it in pellet form.

Everything with 16-18% is cheaper. I was reading about one person who fed their hens 22% (I think) while raising them, and got large/extra large eggs out of those chickens, while the flock she raised on 18% (I think) only laid medium/large eggs. What you do for those first 17 weeks influences their egg size and output and general health.

Why doesn't everyone feed the higher protein feed? Money? Because they expect their chickens to eat plenty of bugs while free ranging? I don't know...

FYI. Went to farm & tractor supply today to purchase the Purina all flock feed. Our pitiful little store does not have it in the store. Have to order it and go to store and pick it up. But in doing this I wanted to tell you they have crumbles and pellets in the 50 lb bags. You had mentioned about wishing it came in pellets... wanted to pass on what I stumbled across.
Still loving this all flock feed idea!! Thank you so very much!

 

[FunClucks]

FYI. Went to farm & tractor supply today to purchase the Purina all flock feed. Our pitiful little store does not have it in the store. Have to order it and go to store and pick it up. But in doing this I wanted to tell you they have crumbles and pellets in the 50 lb bags. You had mentioned about wishing it came in pellets... wanted to pass on what I stumbled across.
Still loving this all flock feed idea!! Thank you so very much!

Glad you found it! At my store, the crumbles are in stock for about USD $25, but to order the pellets it's a $75 delivery charge on top of the feed cost(!) So that's not going to happen any time soon... Which is too bad, as my feeder would work much better for the pellets and the chickens don't want to eat the dust as much when the feed crumbles are all broken down.