My pullets combs and waddles need to probably get more red tooThanks, @Alecia Davidshofer. Yes, I know her wattles and comb aren't large enough yet, nor is her face red. I just thought it was odd since every other chicken that arrived with her has been laying for about a month. Except for one SLW who also must have been a bit younger, she's just been laying for a couple of weeks. I'll just have to be patient [sigh], not one of my virtues.
You don't need to put them in a separate coop. Just feed everybody something without all that extra calcium and allow your laying birds to regulate their own calcium intake via crushed oyster shell. Most people find that a higher protein feed actually increases their flock's production rate.
But mixing it all together doesn't really give them a choice, does it.
That works with oyster shell, taking only that they need...but not the other things(they need to be portioned in proper ratio to regular feed), and the DE just gets all over everything and has no benefit by them ingesting it.
Not to mention that chickens tend to eat the bits that are tastiest, not necessarily what is best nutritionally.
