Can 5 weeks olds eat laying pellets? cumbles are such a waste!

[willkatdawson]

I am feeding medicated starter crumbles just like last time I had chicks, but I forgot just how much they waste! The adults scatter it, but the babies get in the feeder and scratch sending it 2 inches deep across the coop floor! When I feed laying pellets there is almost no waste. When the chicks were tiny I had their food in the room with them and their mom, but the adults were finishing the last of the laying pellets. The chicks would hop in the feeder when going out to free range and gobble down as many pellets as they could before their mom called them, so I know they like them and can digest them. The chicks are 5 weeks old with 5 weeks of medicated food under their belts. Would it be a really bad idea to switch the flock back to laying pellets?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Do you have their feeder elevated? If the food is at the level of their backs, they'll have a hard time scratching it out. I also have one of those little plastic feeders that keeps them from billing out food, too. It has the little dividers in the tray.

I wouldn't put 5 week old chicks on layer. Can you put them all on something like Flock Raiser and offer oyster shell to the hens that are laying, instead? Can you get something like that in pellets?

 

[willkatdawson]

Yes it is elevated but the chicks fly up and scratch the crumbles every where.

 

[Montana-Hens]

I don't know the answer to the can they eat pellets?

But starting at week 2 I move them from trough feed to a hanging gravity feeder and raise it each week for just the reasons you are talking and that solved all my problems. The first day you put the hanging feeder in there be prepared for them to "fear" it.

Good luck.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

No, they cannot have laying pellets. The extra calcium can cause kidney problems since their bodies are not ready to process and use it for eggs, so I've heard. I see no reason to feed them layer pellets if they're not laying

 

[WoodlandWoman]

What style of feeder are you using?

 

[HEChicken]

I believe Flock Raiser does come in a pellet form. All of the feed stores around me only sell it in crumbles but I'm thinking about asking them to order the pellets for me.

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

They shouldn't have just layer because of the calcium, as mentioned before. However, in the day of hens raising their young they eat snails with their moms and get a lot of calcium in the spring from them in a lot of areas of the world. If you're not having problems with them eating a bit of layer pellets it's okay. I can imagine people hens raising chicks would see the chicks eating the feed without problems too. You don't have to worry that a little layer feed is going to kill them though. I would suggest switching everyone over to a non-calcium added layer feed (also sold as pullet feed) if the problem persists with your medicated chick feed. Then have free access for oyster shell or continue your current access if already provided. That way everyone is eating the same feed and it isn't hurting their baby kidneys. At 6 weeks they actually take another growth spurt and commercial layer raisers will add a shot of calcium to their feed mix so they can accommodate that spurt in growth. At 6 weeks a bit of layer feed mixed in would be a good thing.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

My 5 weekers are on Flock Raiser pellets and are doing just fine. MUCH less waste with the pellets than my Silkie and Cochin babies are making with the crumbles. Also, your layers can eat the Flock Raiser, it actually has a higher protein content than the laying pellets do.

 

[willkatdawson]

Good idea. I just called Acworth feed and seed where I get my feed and they don't carry Flock raiser. They can order it though. I'll keep looking.