Does organic feed affect how soon chickens start to lay eggs?

[ChickenBuffs]

This is our second flock of chickens as we had to cull the first due to disease.

We have 6 New Hampshire Reds, 7 Buff Orpingtons, and a Buff rooster. They are 5 1/2 months old and none are laying. Our first flock, all Buffs, had one laying at 4 1/2 months and all laying at 5 1/2. The only difference other than adding the Reds is that we are using organic feed. Any thoughts? A friend bought some from our original 25, and they are all laying. Do you think the organic feed has slowed down their maturation?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Monica

 

[TheBantyCoop]

I have never heard of organic feed affecting the laying of chickens, but I have heard of flocks that take a little longer to lay! My friend raised 2 chickens on medicated feed and they didn't lay for 6 1/2 months!

 

[pdirt]

Some folks here on BYC claim that some of the organic chicken feeds are poorly formulated and therefore may not be giving proper nutritional balances to the chickens that eat them. If there is any truth to these claims, you may want to post a photo of your feed tag and perhaps some of the feed experts can chime in their two cents.

My thoughts on one of the main problems with organic feeds is they tend to have no animal protein. Without animal protein, it can be difficult to get enough digestible methionine (an amino acid), which is absolutely vital for egg production.

I have tried a bag here and there of different organic feeds, but the main one I have used is made by Scratch n Peck, out of Washington State. I have compared it to non-organic feeds, and it seems to be in-line with the nutritional factors that are listed on the labels. I haven't noticed any issues with egg laying. It contains high quality fish protein from Menhaden fish meal. Most of our chickens would begin to lay around 24-25 weeks of age, though we had a couple that didn't start until about 30 weeks of age.