Rooster among the hens feed question

[Little Chicken Mama]

My grandpa has been feeding his flock of hens and roosters layer feed forever and they have all been doing great with no problems at all! Its also cheaper

 

[3KillerBs]

My grandpa has been feeding his flock of hens and roosters layer feed forever and they have all been doing great with no problems at all! Its also cheaper

It's cheaper because you're paying feed prices for rocks/shells.

 

[Brooks_]

My grandpa has been feeding his flock of hens and roosters layer feed forever and they have all been doing great with no problems at all! Its also cheaper

It's worth questioning if the roos were ever around long enough for the calcium to be an issue.

 

[Little Chicken Mama]

It's worth questioning if the roos were ever around long enough for the calcium to be an issue.

My grandpa keeps his roos until the day they die unless they are buttheads and he has had some before that have lived to their full extent eating layer feed!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

For around 10 years, we fed everyone layer feed when they were old enough to swallow pellets instead of crumble. Out of all that time, we had maybe one bird start to show problems from the extra calcium (still not 100 percent sure since it was also possible this issue was frostbite). My males lived long lived (several are now hitting 6+ and I culled an 8 year old last spring because he turned agressive).

As to the flock ratio, if they are not necessarily needing every egg to be fertile, it doesn't matter. Plus it's possible that male they own would bareback hens if they had fewer or may not let another male near them. He doesn't care about a so called ratio, the hens that he can see and get to are his, that it.

 

[Brooks_]

My grandpa keeps his roos until the day they die unless they are buttheads and he has had some before that have lived to their full extent eating layer feed!

For around 10 years, we fed everyone layer feed when they were old enough to swallow pellets instead of crumble. Out of all that time, we had maybe one bird start to show problems from the extra calcium (still not 100 percent sure since it was also possible this issue was frostbite). My males lived long lived (several are now hitting 6+ and I culled an 8 year old last spring because he turned agressive).

I suppose this is one of the debates that will never end.

I guess it comes down to risk management. Feeding extra calcium to non-layers when I can just feed flock raiser (oyster shell on the side) is not one of the risks I'm willing to take

 

[Little Chicken Mama]

Some people may see it as a risk but I don't from my experiences, never have had a problem with any of my roosters eating it

 

[Outta Here]

For around 10 years, we fed everyone layer feed when they were old enough to swallow pellets instead of crumble. Out of all that time, we had maybe one bird start to show problems from the extra calcium (still not 100 percent sure since it was also possible this issue was frostbite). My males lived long lived (several are now hitting 6+ and I culled an 8 year old last spring because he turned agressive).

As to the flock ratio, if they are not necessarily needing every egg to be fertile, it doesn't matter. Plus it's possible that male they own would bareback hens if they had fewer or may not let another male near them. He doesn't care about a so called ratio, the hens that he can see and get to are his, that it.

That's so true. My 1-year-old Bielefelder is the best gentleman rooster I've ever had, to the girls and to me. He has 13 pullets, one more than this breed should be able to cover. But now that my Barred Rock cockerel has started trying to mount the girls(they won't let him), there's no sharing, no ratio, no sirree! I have to rehome the beautiful, friendly BR because his life is a sad solitary one, living as an outcast, barely allowed to snatch food, never getting to breed or crow without getting chased away or pecked.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I am on the free-freeding side, keeping the feeders full 24/7/365 except that once a month or so I let them empty it so I can clean the dust out of the bottom of the pan (I use it to make a wet mash).

I would be concerned that you have your rooster on layer feed, which contains more calcium that is recommended for non-layer birds. On the advice of many people here at BYC, I switched my flock to All-Flock feed with oystershell on the side once I added non-laying birds.

This is my routine as well.

I used to do the layer route, but thanks to BYC and also raising a mixed age and mix-gendered flock, it is far easier to feed an all-flock feed than a layer feed. No more stressing over extra calcium for the guys and gals who aren't laying!

I'll even take it one step further: my neighbor manufacturers meat bird feed for a local university, and they compost the first round of pellets ran through the pellet machine because they aren't as uniform as they should be. Now instead of composting the pellets he brings me the bags of feed. So my birds often are eating an 18% meat bird feed! I'd go as far to say that is 50% of their annual feed. They do fantastically well.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I suppose this is one of the debates that will never end.

I guess it comes down to risk management. Feeding extra calcium to non-layers when I can just feed flock raiser (oyster shell on the side) is not one of the risks I'm willing to take

It is. I'm experimenting with all flock and oystershell in one grouo, but that extra 2 dollars (not including the Oystershell cost at all) really adds up when you go through the bag in less than a week.