Food gurus...need some help

[mossyoakpro]

My peeps are right at 16 weeks old now....I am about out of the grower/starter that they have eaten since day 1. My question is: Can I go ahead with a 20% "developer" feed now instead of buying another bag of starter? I have been using the non-GMO Tucker Mills that my local co-op sells but am planning to move to regular feed once they start laying as the non-GMO stuff does not have very high protein content.(and to be honest it does not really matter to me if I feed non-GMO)

Tucker Mills produces a "developer" which is an "all flock" feed with 20% protein and the instructions say it can be fed to laying hens with the calcium supplements.

Will this be alright to start feeding at 15-16 weeks and the rest of their life I suppose?
Then once the laying begins put in the oyster shell on the side?

Thanks!!

 

[Brooks_]

Yes. I would go ahead and offer the oyster shell. Just watch that they don't gorge on it at first.

 

[mossyoakpro]

Yes. I would go ahead and offer the oyster shell. Just watch that they don't gorge on it at first.

So when my starter/grower is gone put them on the 20% and offer the oyster shell when I get my first egg?

 

[Brooks_]

I offer the shell a couple weeks before expected POL, but that will be fine.

 

[mossyoakpro]

I offer the shell a couple weeks before expected POL, but that will be fine.

Thanks! My nest boxes are open for business when they decide to make a deposit....I'll get some oyster shell the next time I'm in town near a TSC.

In the meantime, when I buy another bag of feed I'll get the 20% and give it a whirl. How tough is it to get them to eat pellets after growing up on crumbles?

 

[Brooks_]

How tough is it to get them to eat pellets after growing up on crumbles?

Don't know, I feed crumble. I have offered pellets as treat at 8 weeks without issue. I have not heard of many cases where it was in issue. At 16 weeks, they should handle pellets fine. Size of bird vs size of pellet type thing.

 

[RoyalChick]

I agree with Brooks - go ahead with the All Flock and make oyster shell available for when they want it.
On the crumbles vs pellets thing I was in your situation and was worried the littles wouldn't be able to eat the pellets so I got a big bag of crumble. Boy was that a dumb idea.
The big ladies shoveled the crumble out of the feeder onto the floor (which is why I had switched them to pellets in the first place) and the littles ate all the pellets so the big ones are eating the bits of crumble off the floor.
My littles are just shy of 8 weeks by the way and were doing fine on pellets until I ran out!

 

[mossyoakpro]

I agree with Brooks - go ahead with the All Flock and make oyster shell available for when they want it.
On the crumbles vs pellets thing I was in your situation and was worried the littles wouldn't be able to eat the pellets so I got a big bag of crumble. Boy was that a dumb idea.
The big ladies shoveled the crumble out of the feeder onto the floor (which is why I had switched them to pellets in the first place) and the littles ate all the pellets so the big ones are eating the bits of crumble off the floor.
My littles are just shy of 8 weeks by the way and were doing fine on pellets until I ran out!

Great news!! I will be getting the new feed in a week or so when the starter runs out.

 

[RoyalChick]

Great news!! I will be getting the new feed in a week or so when the starter runs out.

Great. And I need to order a bag of pellets because the crumbles are disappearing into the coop bedding at an alarming rate!

 

[rosemarythyme]

How tough is it to get them to eat pellets after growing up on crumbles?

I've never had issue. I've had 6-week-olds eating pellets (hubby accidentally gave them layer) and they were eating it like no big deal.

As far as this "developer" feed I'd have no issue using it as long as the calcium is around 1% (unless your littles have already started laying, which is unlikely). Assuming that's the case you can switch to this feed at any point.

I have oyster shell out all the time even when there's chicks running around. They may taste test it but shouldn't really want to eat it until they need it. To be safe you can just put out a minimal amount at first, to prevent any gorging, but you shouldn't have issue.