Feeding Dilemma...

[Chiquey]

I began the chicken adventure in March with 4 chicks - now 3 months old. A friend gave me 5 mature hens and a rooster 3 weeks ago. After researching the issue, I decided to continue the start/grow feed and supplement with oyster shell for the hens.

Problem now is that the hens want nothing to do with the oyster shell. It's also getting harder to keep them separate for feeding/supplementing as the younger girls are now running all over the place.

I've read that you can start Layena at 16 weeks. Has anyone ever started Layena earlier, say around 13 weeks?

 

[can you hear me now?]

have found it easiest to mix the grower and layer together if I have a mixed flock. It gets the laying hens their nutrients as well as the younger birds theirs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I began the chicken adventure in March with 4 chicks - now 3 months old. A friend gave me 5 mature hens and a rooster 3 weeks ago.

After researching the issue, I decided to continue the start/grow feed and supplement with oyster shell for the hens.

Problem now is that the hens want nothing to do with the oyster shell. It's also getting harder to keep them separate for feeding/supplementing as the younger girls are now running all over the place.

I've read that you can start Layena at 16 weeks. Has anyone ever started Layena earlier, say around 13 weeks?

Highlighted sentence is the best course of action.

How do you know they aren't eating the oyster shell? They usually only eat it when the egg enters the shell gland which is normally in the afternoon.

I wouldn't start layer feed until they start laying. Without a strict lighting program, there is no way to know when they will start laying. They could lay at 18 weeks, they could lay at 28 weeks. Anything over 2% calcium is very harmful to, not only young birds but also roosters or for that matter, any bird not actively laying.

As for mixing the feeds as suggested, an actively laying hen needs about 4% calcium. Mixing 1% grower and 4% layer 50:50 will result in 2.5% calcium, insufficient for a layer to replace medullary bone but too high for birds not in production. Providing oyster shell is the only alternative to separating the birds.

ETA

Feeding high calcium to immature pullets will cause severe kidney damage.
http://poultryinfo.co.za/articles/Old/avian-urolithiasis-eng.pdf

The same is true for roosters and hens not in production.