Can I feed grower/finisher to two week old chicks?

[AshleyBickle]

I'm bringing home two week old chicks tomorrow. I already have three laying hens who had begun laying before I expected them to so I have almost a full bag of grower/finisher feed left from having to switch my hens over to layer. Wasn't sure it was safe though. Didn't want to waste almost a 50 pound bag of feed if I didn't need to. Any advise or should I just go buy chick starter like I did with my first group of chicks?

 

[Fred's Hens]

What is the protein content of that Grower/finisher?

 

[AshleyBickle]

It's the Dumor brand. 15%

 

[Fred's Hens]

That's what I thought, but didn't want to assume. Frankly, it is too light on protein for the chicks. But, given the horrific price of feed, no what I'd waste it. Here are a couple of choices and you can decide which you wish to do, ok?

1. Feed it the hens. With a calcium source on the side? There's little difference between Grower and Layer, with calcium in it. You could even blend it to finish it off before it goes stale.

2. Buy a bag of 24% DuMor Chick Starter, the 24%, not the 20%. Mix with your regular Grower and feed that mixture to the chicks. Of course, it wouldn't be medicated, but the protein average would be identical to DuMor 20% chick start N grow.

No way I'd waste it or let it go stale. Feed is just too expensive. Best regards, and enjoy your new chicks.

 

[AshleyBickle]

Thanks so much for the advise. I'll probably to a bit of both to make sure the feed is all used up before going stale. Glad I asked this question or my chicks may not have gotten the correct amount of nutrients. Thanks again.