4 month old free range hens

[Lkelley1]

Just wondering how often and how much layer feed I should give since they are free range. Thank you for any advice, hope you have a wonderful day!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They will find lots to eat out and about but chickens are ravenous eaters so they should have feed available all the time during the day. That way, you know they are getting a balanced diet.
Also, 4 month old birds really aren't ready for layer feed. How long have they been on layer?

 

[Lkelley1]

It's 16 percent layer just got it today went through two bags of chick starter/grower. The man at farmers supply told me to start the 16% layer today.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We don't know when your birds will start laying eggs. Grower is 1% calcium (appropriate for non laying birds). Layer is 4% calcium and only appropriate for birds actively laying eggs.

 

[Lkelley1]

Hum, don't know why he told me to get this then. I just figured the old man knew what he was tlkin about. Should've asked sooner I guess.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's because he isn't a poultry nutritionist. Commercial egg farms sometimes start increasing calcium as early as 16 weeks but they also start increasing daylength in their blackout housing to stimulate all the birds in the house to start laying by 20 weeks or so. They also include an acidifier tin their proprietary feed formulas to help the kidneys deal with the excess calcium.
You aren't likely to be artificially increasing their daylength and therefor, you don't know how long it will be before they start laying.
Any bird not building egg shells will have some subtle adverse effects on the kidneys and other organs if consuming a high calcium diet. Some breeds and strains are less affected than others. A chicken has 2 kidneys with 3 divisions each. They can live and continue to produce eggs with 2 functioning divisions but less than that, renal failure and gout will follow. A commercial egg farm will only be keeping the hens about 18 months so it isn't a big deal for them.
My assumption on BYC is that people are going to want their pets to live as long as possible.

 

[Lkelley1]

Thank you for the info, I didn't know, luckily it just started yesterday so it shouldn't have hurt them I wouldn't think in that little time. They mostly eat fruit and veggies, and they seem to love that melons are their favorite

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think you're ok. It is a cumulative thing. A couple days won't matter.
If it were me, I'd get a bag of grower and mix the 2. That way they'll be getting 2.5% calcium.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Another thing is that people do feed layer to non laying birds like roosters and molters and they say they don't have any problems. The thing is that a bird with renal failure won't exhibit any symptoms. They just die and the people don't get a necropsy so they shrug their shoulders and don't consider what the cause was.

 

[Mrs. K]

The above is good advice, but does not completely address your question. I will attempt that. Birds eat different amounts depending on a lot of things. This time of year, free ranging, they are are apt to eat quite a few bugs, shoots and greens, which will reduce the feed needed.

What I do, is try and only put out enough for the day, I shut my birds up in the run/coop at night, and check their feed bowl, if it is empty, I give them a little more the next day, if there is quite a bit left, I feed them less the next day.

Feed is one of the biggest costs to chickens, and a lot of feed is wasted. A trick that works well for me is a double bowl. I have a large flat rubber bowl (found in the horse section of the feed store) and I put the feed in a bowl inside of that, and a couple times a week, I dump the big bowl back into the small bowl. Works well for me.

Mrs K