when to switch from starter feed?

[johari]

At what age do I switch my chicks from starter feed to regular feed?

 

[Demosthine]

That depends on several factors. What brand and type of feed is your chick feed and "regular" feed? Do you have older hens in your flock?

I use Purina Mills' Chick Starter as long as I have babies. According to their site, you can start using All Flock as long as everyone is over 7 weeks old, but you'll want to have free-choice egg shell or crushed oyster available for any laying hens. You do not want to use Layer feed until your girls are actually laying because the excess calcium in it can damagee their livers. That is why many old timers recommend avoiding the layer blend and stick to offering fred-choice calcium.

It also depends on your breeds. Bantams and Silkies, for instance, eat less than Barred Rocks and Marans. And free-ranging changes the amount of feed, too. A flock in a lush, green pasture with lots of bugs will eat less feed than ones in an average backyard.


Personally, I'd recommend using their age to reach the seven week mark and switching to an All Flock type feed. Just ensure there is free-choice calcium available by week sixteen. That is generally the earliest most breeds seem to start laying. They won't eat it until they need it.

 

[missnu01]

even just wetting the chick food will greatly reduce your waste.

 

[RedneckRebel]

That helps them a lot, lot and I have always put red pepper flakes in their feed when they get about 6 months old, it helps them lay better

 

[Demosthine]

That helps them a lot, lot and I have always put red pepper flakes in their feed when they get about 6 months old, it helps them lay better

Red pepper flakes? Do you have any references for that? I hadn't heard it and would love to find out why it would change their productivity. I'm not questioning you, I just would like more details. I'm information hungry.

 

[missnu01]

I've looked at the fermented feed and I tried just doing a little that way, ad it molded within just a few days. What I took out before the mold occurred the birds lived. I think once everyone is out of the brooder it will be alright. Then they can pick around the yard and what not And get some extra tasty grass and bugs they will eat less food...but man I had no idea that such small chickens could eat so much food. I am almost out of meat bird food so I figured I would out them back on the 24% chick starter that I started them on until I get more meat bird food, although as far as I can tell the only difference between meat bird feed and grower feed is the amount fat...so they should so fine if I just left them on the 24% feed right? I like higher protein for all the birds if I can manage. I get larger eggs and better feathers... Which doesn't matter on the meat birds as they won't be laying eggs, but It seems that with the way they grow they need as much protein as I can get them. I'm going to weigh a few meat birds tomorrow just because they are so large I'm starting to so see just how big they are...anyway I've hijacked this thread, but as far as I can tell when to use what is mostly a preference among people. And a lot of foods are called different things, but they are all the same. Like rockin rooster, vs game bird starter...some have super similar ingredients.

 

[RedneckRebel]

Red pepper flakes? Do you have any references for that? I hadn't heard it and would love to find out why it would change their productivity. I'm not questioning you, I just would like more details. I'm information hungry.

A friend told me that it works, and he got the information from an older man we both know, but it does work, I have found this out myself, and it is definitely worth a shot at trying, I'm honestly not for sure what it triggers to cause them to lay, but they lay better and earlier

 

[RedneckRebel]

I also had a older feller here in town that has raised chickens for more than 50 years tell me to use red pepper flakes in their feed for the same reasons.  This may be one of those things that "old timers" know about that works, but we have yet to figure out scientifically just HOW it works.  

It's good to become friends with some of them, it does work though, I have seen the results, you can learn many things from your elders

 

[missnu01]

It's worth a shot though, and I like some of their tricks

This is sometimes true...but I know an older very experienced gentlemen that plants everything by the moon signs and all that jazz, anyway I gave him a few plants and told him to be careful and he killed them all...I outgrow him every year, and I don't use any of his "tricks"...so sometimes you have to take advice with a grain of salt...some older people are full of crap, just the same as some younger are. I like things that have a clear cut reason for helping or not...I feel that if pepper flakes helped increase production they would be a staple in all chicken feed...I also think that the commercial hatcheries would surely have cornered the market and bought up all the pepper flakes they can get their hands on...

 

[TATTOOJOSH]

i have raised a few flocks so far in my life and the one thing i have noticed about feeding your chickens is they are kinda like goats and will eat more different kinds of things than you think. my chickens eat lettuce, weeds, grass, tomatoes cucumbers, raddishes, apples and all sorts of veggies. heck one time my baby gave them chicken nuggets and they ate that like it was a treat. i let my ladies forage around the backyard for several hours a day, picking at all the weeds and grass and bugs. this new flock is only 5 weeks old but have been going out in the yard for 3 or 4 weeks now. i bought a 50lb sack of chick starter for13 hens and they have full time access to it all day and i think i have went through maybe 25 lbs or so of it, and part of that is because i changed their food when they pooped in it. i love my ladies but when it comes to food...their dumb...they eat whatever and they lay eggs just as good as a chicken on a monitered diet. the only thing i make sure i give them is oyster shells when their around 14 -18 weeks. i say let them eat it if they want to eat it...saves me from buying so much feed. do you think that generations ago they have scientifically made feed for chickens....nope they ate whatever thay could find...dont have to be so precise unless maybe this is a bussines for you...