3 month old hens finisher grower

[ange]

I have just placed my 4, 3 month old rir hens, in with the 2, wells summer older hens, and all is well. My question is about the food. My hens I feed them layer pellets, and my younger 3 month old hens I have been giving them started feed, and then starter' grower feed, that bag has just finished and before I place thewm on layer feed, there is one more step at our store, and it is finisher, can I skip the finisher and just go to the layer right away? Since I have so much of the layer or should I just buy the finisher, before giiiiiiiiving them the ;layer feed.

 

[Judy]

There is probably not a lot of difference between grower and finisher for laying hens. Actually, I believe finisher is intended to be fed to meat birds for their last weeks before processing.

The problem with feeding layer to 3 month old birds is the calcium. Layer feed is high in calcium, for strong egg shells. The amount of calcium will damage a baby chick's kidneys. What I can't find and have never read is, at what age is the bird old enough to eat layer feed? Or must they be at laying age and using the calcium for eggshells before layer feed is safe for their kidneys? I do not know the answer to this.

The usual recommendation on here for this situation is to remove the layer, feed everyone a lower calcium food such as grower, and offer oyster shells separately, the assumption being that the younger birds will not eat much or any of the oyster shell.

 

[Chris09]

I think that your girls are still to young for the layer..
At 3-4 months old they should be on the grower..

This is what I feed.
Day 1 till 4 weeks Starter...
4 weeks till the first egg grower...
After the first egg layer...

Chris

 

[ange]

I think I will feed my 3 month old hens grower, so when should I switch from grower to layer. at what age, also I should put chicken scratch on the ground for all age hens? Do oyster sheels for just my older layer hens?

 

[cmom]

If I have any grower left over I mix it with the layer feed. I have not noticed any problems with the birds or their eggs. I leave a dish of free choice oyster shells by their feed. They will take what they want or need.