Can't Decide About The Chicks

[Wilson Chickens]

I went to TSC the other day to look at some chicks. TSC only had bantams and comets. The gentleman that I talked with said the comets were a cross between white leghorns and rhode island reds and the pullets would lay white eggs not brown. My hubby said to purchase six of them and now wants more but I'm getting the chicks for the eggs so I'm confused. Can you get a comet from crossing the white leghorn and rhode island red?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you know which hatchery they came from? Different TSC’s order their chicks from different hatcheries. If you knew which hatchery they came from, we could look and see what their comets look like.

There is no poultry police running around fining people or throwing them in jail for mis-naming chickens. Comets are a common marketing name different hatcheries use to market their chickens. Star is another they like to use. They are not breeds so there is no standard for what they should be.

Usually though they are red sex links. Hatcheries often use a Rhode Island Red rooster to make a red sex link but not a white leghorn. If a Rhode Island Red rooster is the father they will not lay white eggs. They will be brown. Some hatcheries use roosters from breeds other than RIR. Unless you know which hatchery they came from, there really is no telling what they have in their background.

Typically the comets are real good egg layers. If eggs are shat you are after, they are probably a real good choice.

 

[Wilson Chickens]

The TSC in georgetown Kentucky gets their comets from Mount Healthy Hatchery but the guy wasn't too sure and the TSC in frankfort kentucky didn't have comets but they had red sexlinks and red pullets and they also got theirs from Mount Healthy in Ohio.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The TSC here got their chicks from Privett this year. A couple of years ago they got them from McMurray. That's what I mean they get them from different hatcheries. It makes absolutely no difference to you where the one near me got theirs. It only matters where the one you use got theirs.

 

[Wilson Chickens]

Well I checked out Mt. Healthy's website and they seem pretty good but I wouldn't know a whole lot since its my first time raising chickens

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking in my last post.

Mt. Healthy Comets are based on the commercial egg laying chickens. You can tell by the name “Hubbard”. They have been selectively bred to lay a lot of large eggs. They will be excellent layers.

They are fairly small in size which means they don’t use a lot of feed to maintain a large body. They are very efficient in converting feed to eggs. If you decide to eat them, there will not be a lot of meat but older hens will make great broth or stew.

Their small size compared to the eggs they lay can create a problem. They are a little more susceptible to laying problems like prolapse than hens that lay smaller eggs or have larger bodies, especially after they molt. After a molt the egg size normally gets larger. This does not mean they are all going to die, just that a few more than normal may have problems. Many people keep them for several years and they do OK. I don’t mean to scare you away from them. They should be excellent for what you want. But you might not want to feed them a really high protein diet. Just feed them a normal diet. A high protein diet causes the eggs to be even larger.

 

[Wilson Chickens]

Thanks for the information Ridgerunner. What kind of diet would be best for the comets?

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are several options while they are chicks. I don’t know what is available to you at your feed store. One standard is to feed Starter for the first 4 to 8 weeks or whenever that bag runs out, then switch to Grower. Feed Grower until they are ready to lay, usually 20 weeks or until you see the first egg, then switch to Layer. You can also feed a combined Starter/Grower from the start until you switch to Layer.

Starter should be in the range of 20% to 24% protein.
Grower should be around 16% protein.
Combined Starter/Grower should be around 20% protein.
Layer should be around 16% protein but also has extra calcium for the egg shells.

Different brands may vary these per cents a bit, but they should be in that range. If they are off 1 or 2 percent, it’s not a big deal. The names can vary a bit too. The extra calcium in Layer is dangerous to a growing chick. It can damage their internal organs. Don’t switch to Layer until they are laying or grown.

The main difference in Layer and Grower is percent calcium. Many people feed Grower and offer oyster shell on the side to their laying flock, especially if they have a flock with mixed ages, where some are laying and some are not.

A lot of people also feed theory laying flock Flock Raiser which is in the range of 20% protein with oyster shell on the side. It’s intended for chicks that are being raised together where some will become laying hens and some will be processed for meat. It’s OK for when they are chicks, but because the higher percent protein it’s probably best for you to not feed that to your hen once they hit laying age.

I’m probably making this sound a little more dramatic than it really is. I think it is a reasonable precaution to not overfeed hens that have been specially bred to lay Grade A Large eggs on a 16% protein diet anything that will make them lay larger eggs, especially with their smaller bodies.

 

[Wilson Chickens]

Oh so much to learn. What about crack corn? A neighbor told me to feed the chicks cracked corn with the chick starter.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicken Starter, Grower, and Layer are balanced diets. They contain everything the chickens need and should be the major portion of their diet. If they forage where there is good forage which means grass and weeds, grass seeds and weed seeds, and all kinds of creepy crawlies then this is less important. But as long as they are confined, limit what else you feed them to maybe what they can clean up in 15 to 20 minutes.

There is nothing wrong with cracked corn, kitchen wastes, overflow from your garden, or a lot of other things. They don’t need any of these other things, but they won’t hurt them as long as they are a minor part of their diet. Think of these things more as dessert not a basic part of their nutritional needs.

They need grit to grind these things up in their gizzard. Grit is just small rocks. You can buy it at the feed store, collect small gravel from a gravel driveway or road, collect it from a sand bar in a stream, or just give them dirt from your yard. If they have access to the ground, they will find it for themselves.