Feeding Layena to chickens that are laying??

[mikenandrea]

Ok.. I have 2 chickens that are laying and 7 that are 3-4 months old.. Is it hurting the younger ones by not giving them chick starter? They are just as big as my layers..

 

[MsPony]

Every young animal needs extra protein/vitamins/fat/minerals for the growth that they go through. While it wont kill your chickens, I would try and get them a good chick starter.

 

[mikenandrea]

Obviously I cant feed it to my layers if I want to eat their eggs, correct?

 

[Soccer Mom]

3-4 mos old is plenty old enough to eat Layena. I start them on Layena before they start laying. That way their bodies are ready.

 

[MsPony]

I thought they had to be 7-8 months old?

 

[granmahen]

We give our hens layena from about 6 months old. When we had our younger pullets with them we had a separate feeder with start and grow. We figured all chickens ate from both feeders but hoped they would average out. The Layena has more calcium which I read was not so good for growing pullets but I didn't have room to separate them. Everyone turned out fine.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Wait until 7 mos? I've never heard that. Honestly, quite a few of my girls were laying before they hit the magic 5 mo mark. If it worries you, you could feed everyone flock raiser which is a step between chick starter and Layena and then just offer oyster shell for the ones who want it. But mine ate Layena and none of them have keeled over yet.