Can I feed meat bird crumbles to my hens

[CherylMSU]

Hello all! I have a bag of meat bird crumbles and was told I could feed it to my hens. I have oyster shell, but they are probably 4-5 weeks yet from laying. They have been eating the starter crumbles all along so far and have gotten big and are quite healthy. I just am not sure about using the bag of meat bird crumbles because it doesn't have calcium in it I'm sure like a layer pellet would have. BUT I was told not to give them oyster shell until laying. So, what advice do you give?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can provide oyster shell (always in a separate container). They won't eat it if they don't need it.
Most people with multi age birds and roosters feed a grower feed with oyster shell on the side.
Layer feed is about 4% calcium (too much for non-layers) and all other feed is about 1% calcium.
Your meat bird crumbles are probably around 22% protein, is that correct?
That's a little high for 15 week old layers but shouldn't hurt them. You can cut the protein temporarily by giving a little more grain or sunflower seeds.
Get in the habit of knowing the calcium and protein percentages of your feeds. Also, almost every bag of feed has a feeding instruction chart on the bag. Follow that advice. The manufacturer knows what's in their feed and the nutritional analysis. We would be guessing.
Layer feed is a little higher in vitamins and some minerals because the hen deposits so much of those things in the egg.