Can my 8 week olds eat layer food?

[thepick4uchicks]

I never started them on layer feed. I said that they have snacked on it over the last month. They’ve been fed starter/grower since day 1.

Oh. I am so sorry. I missed that in your post. Please overlook my mistake. I am sorry they are sick. I don’t think it is that. Where do you live. Could it be the extreme heat? Depending on where you live?

 

[LisaKS]

Just keep them of the layers from now on, and see how they do.

Roughly how much would you say they have eaten?
All you can do is wait and see.
And in the meantime, try and rule out any other illness.
Are their vents clean? What are their dropping like? Are their crops clearing every night?

Well, I have been letting them out for about an hour or two each day for the last month and they would stand around the layer food off and on and eat while they were out. But the rest of the time they were in their own pen with their own food. Their vents look clean. I’ll have to observe their droppings. I can’t tell you about heir crops clearing out, because I don’t get out to our property every day until late afternoon.

 

[The Happster]

I wouldn't have thought that much would cause such a problem.
Check them all over. Hopefully the little cheepers will make it.

 

[LisaKS]

Try making a small amount of mash with some of the chick crumb. I find this sometimes persuades them to eat.
Not too much, in case they won't eat it.

Good idea. What about offering them yogurt? Someone said that would be good for them,

 

[The Happster]

I offer mine yoghurt too. It may take them a little while to get used to it, if they haven't tried it before.
Mine ran away screaming the first two times. They they gave up and threw themselves into it. Now they're addicts.

You can even mix that into the mash, but see if they eat plain mash first.

 

[LisaKS]

Oh. I am so sorry. I missed that in your post. Please overlook my mistake. I am sorry they are sick. I don’t think it is that. Where do you live. Could it be the extreme heat? Depending on where you live?

I am in Georgia. It’s been pretty hot, but they are in the shade at the top of a hill with a nice breeze. I will be taking out some electrolytes and vitamins to put in their water tomorrow. I pray they will make it!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I am in Georgia. It’s been pretty hot, but they are in the shade at the top of a hill with a nice breeze. I will be taking out some electrolytes and vitamins to put in their water tomorrow. I pray they will make it!

As hot as it has been in the southern states the indices in our areas even in the shade have been so high that they can kill a chick or chicken in a heartbeat. It could very well be heat. I am not kidding. There have been more animals, poultry, and humans suffering and dying from heat stroke in the last month that it has been staggering. I had an incident myself. You cannot rule it out. The electrolytes are a must for them right now if they are outside.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading all your posts and now I’m freaking out that my 2 of my 3 9-week-old Barred Rick chicks are going to die. I am, of course, giving them their chick starter grower food. But over the last month, when I let them out every day to play for an hour or two, they will eat my grown hen’s laying feed. For the last 3 days, two of them are acting very sick. They are lethargic, sleepy and not eating. I am devastated. I had no idea that allowing them to snack on the layer feed could kill them from liver or kidney damage. Again, this food is NOT in THEIR pen. They only have access to it for 1-2 hours a day. If I cut off all access to this feed, can I save them? Or is it too late??? What are the symptoms of liver or kidney damage? Please help!!

While high calcium isn't right for them, eating some of the hens' feed won't make them sick, unless the hens have an illness. Urolithiasis doesn't represent as an illness. There are often no symptoms until 5 of the kidney segments have become dysfunctional. "Even then there will be no symptoms, they just die.

 

[roy2636]

Reading through this I have to ask; what about extra calcium people feed chicks for treats daily? I just started letting my 7 week old chicks out and they have access to both layer and chick feed. I've seen them eat both. Is it that big of an issue? there is about 2.25% difference in calcium between layer feed and chick feed. sure, 2% can be a big difference, but ive also read the calcium in layer feed isnt always enough for egg laying. Is it that big of a deal to worry about it?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The reason the calcium in layer feed isn't always enough for producing hens is that not all hens produce the same finite number of eggs in a production cycle. For that reason, a hen producing 6/7 eggs a week will need more calcium (hence the reason to provide oyster shell on the side. One producing 4/5 eggs a week would be adequately supplied by layer feed. A hen producing 1/2 eggs a week may be getting too much calcium from a layer feed.

There is more than a 2.5% difference between chick and layer feed. Feed manufacturers are required to publish the min/max calcium content in their feed on the guaranteed analysis tag. As an example, Layena pellets contain 3.25-4.25% calcium while Start and Grow contains from 0.75-1.25%. That is potentially a difference of 3.75%
The job of the kidneys is to regulate blood mineral content. For an animal to consume a single nutrient that is that significantly different from what is needed of the nearly 40 nutrients in the diet is a profound difference.
That difference on an ongoing basis can overwhelm the kidneys.