Is it too early to switch to grower feed?

[FingerLakesChick]

Is it too early to switch my 6 and 1/2 week old girls to grower?

The reason I ask this is because I have 8 and 1/2 week old girls that are eating grower, and the younger girls are still eating starter. Because of this I have the young girls in their own pen in the coop. I feel bad because they're confined while the big girls get the run of the place!!

So what I want to do is combine all the girls, get rid of the little pen, have ONE feeder and ONE waterer and I don't want to wait another week and a half to do it!!!

What if I mix grower and starter together for all the girls for one more week?

 

[HobbyChickener]

There is not a lot of difference in the substance of the 2, it is more the size of the food isn't it? I didn't think it changed much until you start feeding layer pellets, but I might be wrong.

 

[SeaChick]

I think it depends on the brand.

Blue Seal is a 3-step feed (starter, grower, layer) and I beliueve they recommend switching to grower at about 8 weeks. Kreamer's Nature's best Organic, though, is 4-step.... starter for 21 days, then grower to 70 days, then "pullet developer" until they lay, then layer......

The feeds have different sized chunks as well as different protein/fat/fiber amounts. generally the chick starter has 19-22% protein compared to the 15-17% in the middle kind, and 16% for layer.

Stacey