Feeding Males and females

[Jenn18]

So when feeding the frames and rooster are not supposed to have layers feed because of the calcium, so when the rooster loves with the hens how do u explain to the rooster you eat here and the hens you eat here lol. Thanks for any advice on how to do this or how important it is. I'm fairly new.

 

[sylviethecochin]

My breeding rooster just gets layer mash (or pellets. Depending what's available) because I'm lazy and layer feed is cheaper than starter/grower/all-flock.

Many people just use an all-flock feed and have oyster shell on the side for the hens.

 

[chickens really]

I feed Grower feed to my Birds and supply Oyster shell in a separate bowl..

 

[lazy gardener]

Jenn, I don't worry about my roo eating layer feed. It is a non issue to me.

 

[Folly's place]

My birds get Flock Raiser, with oyster shell separately. There are hens laying eggs, hens out of production, roosters, and babies out there, so feeding everyone the same feed works great for me.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you watch this you can see how the professionals do it, but that's way too much work and detail for me. Plus it does not handle the problem of having chicks in with the flock so I do like many other people. A low calcium feed with oyster shell on the side.

How important is it? That is a really good question but I don't have a great answer. We all have opinions on that and as you can see we do things differently. There are studies out there that shows excess calcium is not great for roosters or hens not currently laying eggs, let alone growing chicks. But how are you feeding them? If all they eat is the Layer feed that may be too much. But if they forage for a lot of their feed or you feed them a lot of low calcium treats they may not be getting all that much calcium. It's not what is in one bite but how many total grams of calcium do they eat on average over several days.

This is all too complicated for me to figure out so I go the easy route, a low calcium feed with oyster shell on the side.