Feed Question

[case6]

I Have Six 5 Week Old Chicks And 4 Older Laying Chickens(about 1 Year Old) My Older Chickens Are Eating Layer Pellets. I Have My Chicks On Starter Feed But Im Wanting To Put Them All Together Before The Chicks Start Laying And I Don't Know If The Chicks Can Eat Layer Pellets Or The Older Ones Eat Starter Feed. I Guess My Question Is Do I Need To Keep Them Seperate Till The Chicks Start Laying Or Can I Use One Feed For All. Ive Put Them Together A Few Times For A While And They Seem To Get Along Great So The Food Is My Only Concern. Thanks For Any Help.

 

[Akane]

5 weeks is a bit young to mix them all. The younger ones may get beaten up while you aren't watching. You should wait until they are closer to the same size. 5weeks is definitely too young for layer feed. The extra calcium will cause organ damage. You can feed flock raiser, game bird feed, or nonmedicated chick starter to all the chickens and then offer oyster shell for the layers to get calcium. The chicks won't bother with the oyster shell until they need it.

 

[TXmom]

I'm also about to put my 5-week-old pullets in the coop with the big ones. They all get along fine so far when I let the little ones play in the yard, and I haven't had a problem integrating chicks before. If there's a problem this time, I'll deal with it IF it happens.

I plan on feeding them all Flock Raiser, and they already have a dish of free choice oyster shell.