What do you feed your 3-4 month old chickens?

[jakenhyde]

Three month old pullets choking on worms? Baloney. I've got robins in my yard that consume huge earthworms. I've got 14 pullets that were hatched on March 5th, 2014. Got my first egg two days ago(6/16). Only one so far. But I've been feeding them chick starter until now. Had a half bag(25 lbs) of chick starter left and just mixed it with my regular laying crumbles. When that's gone, it will be laying crumbles all the way. Did the same thing with last year's pullets and it worked out just fine.
BTW....I built a 5'x10' pen adjacent to my regular chicken run....one side of the pen is a common fence with the regular run. So the older hens have been able to see and be near the young pullets. I have seen no sign of animosity between old and young, so will integrate the whole bunch soon as it quits snowing(yes, it's snowing on June 18 here in SW Montana) I will then have 38 hens. At this time, the girls can't keep up with the demand for their fresh eggs. All my hens, except five, are golden sex link. They lay beautiful very large brown eggs. Jim Schwindt

 

[farmingjerry]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to add that I was told by my local feed store to keep them on starter for 8 weeks and then switch them to grower until 16 weeks before changing them to layer. Sounded pretty reasonable to me....

 

[chicktender]

Chickens have roamed and eaten worms, etc. for centuries. I can't imagine someone telling you that they shouldn't have a worm. My brood mamas take their babies out at about a week old and begin to teach them to forage. They scratch and it is so fun to watch mama teach them what to eat. She will hold it in her mouth and have them peck it out of her beak. There isn't anything that I see they can't eat when mama is teaching them to eat. I have 6 that was hatched May 27th and they are running and eating with the big birds. They are jumping up to the chicken nipples to drink, although they have a water container on the ground their size. They think they are as big as the next ones. Feed your babies if they are out at all where they can get the sand and gravel to digest it. If they are in a pin and you do all the feeding either get them some sand to play in and eat or just give them the bought food.

 

[chicktender]

That is what I was told with my first ones, but after that it was mama's job to feed them. They eat what she does.

 

[farmingjerry]

As long as we're talking about chicken feed, what is the benefit of feeding crumbles vs. mash? When I was a kid I don't recall there even being crumbles available. We fed our chickens layer mash.

 

[wildskygal]

Glad I came too !!!....We are so New at This ...From all the reading on here I feel way Better ..Thanks

 

[wildskygal]

I feed ours chick starter, scratch feed, some sweet pleasure horse feed , cooked rice. Macaroni, meal worms, vegetables, cut up apple etc., etc. ext.greens, spinach, weeds. They seem to eat almost anything and look around for more. I ran out of chicken food one day and made them corn meal and ground up alfalfa pellets. They scarfed down every morsel. I have ground up egg shells and put that in their food also. Our chickens are healthy and friendly.

 

[virgil]

My dozen gets fed everything. They are excellent garbage grinders. I would steer clear of scratch feed until they are full grown. They get the same stuff in the chick starter. They love cantaloupe !!!!!!!!!!

 

[farmingjerry]

Mine love cantaloupe too. Watermelon is a favorite too.

 

[kilby]

Three month old pullets choking on worms? Baloney. I've got robins in my yard that consume huge earthworms. I've got 14 pullets that were hatched on March 5th, 2014. Got my first egg two days ago(6/16). Only one so far. But I've been feeding them chick starter until now. Had a half bag(25 lbs) of chick starter left and just mixed it with my regular laying crumbles. When that's gone, it will be laying crumbles all the way. Did the same thing with last year's pullets and it worked out just fine.
BTW....I built a 5'x10' pen adjacent to my regular chicken run....one side of the pen is a common fence with the regular run. So the older hens have been able to see and be near the young pullets. I have seen no sign of animosity between old and young, so will integrate the whole bunch soon as it quits snowing(yes, it's snowing on June 18 here in SW Montana) I will then have 38 hens. At this time, the girls can't keep up with the demand for their fresh eggs. All my hens, except five, are golden sex link. They lay beautiful very large brown eggs. Jim Schwindt

Hey I thought 5 months was the laying age. Unusual just like your snow?