Another feed question

DaisyG2317

Crowing
Jul 14, 2020
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I have 4 isa brown pullets who are 14 weeks old. They have been eating medicated starter/grower their whole lives. I know isas can lay as early at 16 weeks, and I have one girl who is getting very large wattles and very red. I am almost out of the starter/grower and want to feed them the Nutrena Hearty Hen when they are laying, so my question is:

Do i just buy the small 5 pound bags of starter/grower until an egg appears, and then switch to the hearty hen? Do I just start feeding the hearty hen at 16 weeks regardless? Should 14 week olds even be eating medicated feed anymore?
 
Feed them all flock and keep crushed oyster shells in a separate feeder for calcium for when they start laying
If you want to hold out for layer feed, I would continue to feed grower but take them off of medicated and just do regular. They can eat it with the layer even after they start laying to use it up.

@chickenlittle21 gave good advice too!
Thank you both for the suggestions. I wish I didn't need to go get a new bag of feed in a day or so, then i could plan a little more😄
 
I don't do medicated feed at all.

As far as layer, if you want to switch over, you can at around16 weeks... or you can wait until everyone is laying (which is what I do)... or you can stay on grower/all flock for their entire lives, with oyster shell supplemented on the side.
 
I switched from chick starter medicated and mixed the it with Purina layena crumbles. Then as the layena crumble was about 1/2 empty, I began adding/mixing the Layena with Omega which has small/medium pellets and my feed choice.
Regular pellets might be to large for new laying pullets to eat and digest.
Watch your girls when switching feed as a Hard Switch.
The difference may well be too much and they won't or can't eat it. Or, if they do the Hard Switch gives them Crop issues and/or diarrhea.
My two cents is: Purchase another bag of Chick Starter Non Medicated and a bag of your layer feed and wean them onto it.
Do Not do a hard switch.
If you ever did this to a dog, you would have learned the hard way of why not to do it again.
 
Follow up with another dumb question. Do girls on layer feed need separate oyster shell as well?

I feed my chickens layer feed with oyster shells added, but I also have separate small PVC feeders one filled with calcium and the other has grit. Even though the layer feed has oyster shells in it, they still eat the extra calcium from the small feeder. The extra calcium feeder lasts a long time, but they do eat from it so I assume they must need extra calcium at times. Anyway, it's always there if they want it. Same for the grit. It's there if they want/need it.
 

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