Feeding my laying hens Grower?

[neckringer]

A friend gave me some grower, can I give this to my laying hens? Should I mix it with there layer? I understand it has more protien than layer but what about the extra stuff they need for laying a good quality egg?

 

[digitS']

I'm sure that there is grower and then there's grower. Different companies must have different formulas and one company's product may differ depending on the where it is made.

I feed what is essentially a grower to my laying hens along with free-choice oyster shells. Purina replaced MeatBuilder several years ago with Flock Raiser. It is supposed to be a multi-use, multi-age, multi-species feed.

My birds like it and do well on it. And, with its higher protein, I feel that the chickens can be fed more things from the kitchen and garden in their diet while still being productive layers.

I'm sure that any sudden changes in feeding wouldn't be handled well by your chickens. You may want to do a 10%, 20% kind of introduction. Don't forget about the lack of calcium in the grower. The layers will need another source, like the oyster shells.

Steve

 

[SandraChick]

I feed grower to my chickens...just make sure there is a calcium choice like oyster shells available free choice as well.