Can I feed them all the same?

[snewman]

I have chicks coming in a few weeks, for the first time ever! They are quite an assortment, some cornish X, some future layers, some assorted roosters of heavy breeds for meat...can I feed them all the same thing until they reach either eating age or laying age? Or should the meat birds get something different? I seem to be reading that chick starter is fine until hens start laying, is that true for meat birds as well (I mean that chick starter is fine until they become meat)? Or is there some intermediate feed that meat birds switch to after the chick feed? I wasn't really planning on keeping meat and laying birds separate, but will if necessary. Thanks!

 

[Chickemee]

I heard something a while ago that you should feed meat birds scratch because it makes them fatter. I dont know from experience because I dont eat my birds.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yes, you can feed them all the same thing. Don't feed them just scratch because it does not have enough protein and their legs will give out and you'll have to cull them before they reach a nice table size. If you can get some higher protein feed, you can add a bit of that to the feed in the pen for the cornish x meat birds to help support their extremely fast growth. If you want to increase the fat on them, you can give them scratch for the last week or so, because by then, they are off to a "good" start on their body structure.

 

[snewman]

Thanks, silkiechicken!

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I'm only getting four layers- is there any problem feeding the layer chicks the high protein stuff while they're in the brooder together? When they're in their own coops, I'm going to feed different foods, but for now, I'm not going to bother seperating them and buying double the chick feeder/waterers.