Chick Starter Forever?

[AmyJane725]

Hey guys,

Up until a day or so ago I was planning on swapping my babies over to a layer feed when they reach that age, but then it occurred to me that the extra calcium in that feed is bad for my roo.

Would it be ok to just feed them the chick starter forever and offer calcium on the side so he won't get overloaded with it?

My chick starter has:

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can feed a non medicated starter grower or an All Flock ration. Provide a separate bowl of oyster shells for the calcium needs.

 

[AmyJane725]

You can feed a non medicated starter grower or an All Flock ration. Provide a separate bowl of oyster shells for the calcium needs.

Ok, cool. Thanks.
I'll keep on with the starter, and I've already got my big bag of oyster shell ready to go.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hey guys,

Up until a day or so ago I was planning on swapping my babies over to a layer feed when they reach that age, but then it occurred to me that the extra calcium in that feed is bad for my roo.

Would it be ok to just feed them the chick starter forever and offer calcium on the side so he won't get overloaded with it?

My chick starter has:

View attachment 1807692

Absolutely.... it is an approach many, myself included, choose to take to feeding. Provide calcium, ie oyster shell, for active layers and you are set.

 

[AmyJane725]

Absolutely.... it is an approach many, myself included, choose to take to feeding. Provide calcium, ie oyster shell, for active layers and you are set.

Just wanted to make sure the 18% protein wasn't too high for adults. Sounds like it's fine though. Thanks for the reassurance.

Too bad the chick starter is like $3 more per bag than the layer feed Oh well, if the roo ever has to go I can decrease my food bill in two ways.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I feed mine flock raiser (basically the same as grower) for the same reason. All my hens lay nice, hard-shelled eggs with orange yolks.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I mostly feed chick starter grower as well, because I have a mixed flock. I have two hens though that lay funky shells, and I suspect that they don’t eat the oyster shell and crumbled egg shells as well as the others. I’ve switched to layer feed a few times to help them with their shells. Now that I’ve just added chicks to the flock, I’m back to only starter /grower for awhile.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can get different opinions on how much protein is good or bad for them. We often overthink this to death. In my opinion anything from 16% to 20% should be OK for most of us if you are just after eggs. For other goals you may have other specific needs, such a raising them for show or meat usually requires a higher protein feed.

If you provide a fair amount of low protein treats such as veggies a higher protein content may be beneficial. If they forage for a lot of what they eat you don't have a lot of control over what they eat anyway. As I said we can overthink this.

In my opinion there is unlikely to be any situation where an 18% protein feed is bad for them. I feed a 16% Grower with oyster shell on the side. Mine forage for a lot of what they eat. I consider mine quite healthy.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I have no Roosters, but I have hens that don't lay or lay sporadically.
I feed a Non-medicated Starter Grower or a All-Flock/Flock Raiser crumbles 18/20% Protein, after 10 weeks of age.
I had feather picking when I switched to a 16% feed. GC

 

[DanEP]

18% grower works well for their entire life. Any chicks I hatch get one bag of starter and then go to grower forever. I may be wrong but I think the extra protein helps with laying and when molting the extra protein surly doesn't hurt when their trying to regrow feathers.