feeding young chicks

[mad4horses]

How long do chicks need to be on the starter feed? I have been told that chicks can go from starter to layer feed. Is this ok?

 

[Fred's Hens]

All these options are on the bag of most feed company's products. It's called a feed chart or feeding schedule.
Also, all feed companies provide this feed chart on their company's website.

There are options.

You can feed Chick Starter all the way to Point of Lay and switch to layer at that point.
You can feed Start-N-Grow all the way to POL.
You can feed medicated Starter and then switch to Grower at 8 or 9 weeks and feed that until POL.
You can feed an All Flock or Flock Raiser type product at any point, to any chicken, at any age.

As you see there are lots of options and even a few more.

The important thing is to not feed Layer until Point of Lay. It is laced with a heavy dose of calcium, something that is not needed by a younger bird and is potentially harmful to them. Hope this helps.

 

[mad4horses]

Thanks for the help. I'll look again at the bag. It's not medicated and was told by the feed mill to feed until laying age.
Thanks again!!

 

[gardengirl55]

I am still trying to make sure we are feeding our adolescent chickens right. They are about 11 weeks old. We were told to stop the starter feed and go to lay mash, but I have been reading about a feed called all flock or grow but have not been able to find it at my feed & seed. Are there other names for this? It sounds like feeding them lay mash is not the thing to do until POL. Thanks in advance for any help!
Gardengirl44

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Layer feed isn't healthy for the chicks that are not ready to lay. Stick with the chick feed if you can't find the grower feed or all flock until you see an egg.

 

[gardengirl55]

Thanks! We were also grinding up scratch - my husband bought it and it seemed to big for them. We ground it up in the blender to make it finer.
Can you recommend any brands I can try for the grower feed? The starter feed is really expensive and only comes in small bags.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Make sure that the scratch doesn't make up a large portion of their diet. It won't help them. In fact, corn will raise their body temperature and should be avoided in large amounts during hot months.

 

[bustedchicks]

...In fact, corn will raise their body temperature and should be avoided in large amounts during hot months.

Why is this? Any journal articles?