You have a whole lot of options. The only rule is do not feed Layer to growing chicks. The extra calcium in Layer can cause bone or internal organ damage in growing chicks. You only feed Layer after they start to lay or you can start at 20 weeks if they have not laid yet.
You can look on the bag of feed. Most of them tell you at what age you should switch and what you should use. But those are not laws of nature, just suggestions for maximum efficiency if that feed is all you are feeding them. They do fine in other circumstances.
The "normal" progression is to feed them Starter (normally around 22% to 24% protein) for the first 4 to 8 weeks. Then switch to Grower (around 16% protein) until you switch to Layer (around 16% protein). But many of us don't do it exactly that way. And this is for flocks that will be laying flocks. If you are raising meat birds, the feeding is different.
It really does not matter if you switch from Starter to Grower at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, or somewhere in between. You can even go past 8 week some, but I don't like to use a feed that high in protein after that age. In my opinion, the best time to switch from Starter to Grower is whenever you run out of Starter after their 4th week.
But many of us cannot buy feed like that. Straight Starter is not available here. What I can get is a combined Starter/Grower that is 20% protein. You can feed that from Day 1 until you switch to layer.
There is also a 15% Grower/Developer available. You can switch to that around 13 weeks until you switch to Layer.
Sometimes you can get a 20% protein Flock Raiser. Many people feed that. It is intended for flocks that have some chicks in it that will be used for meat and some that will become layers, but many people use it for pure laying flocks.
So you can see that there are a lot of different options. Other than feeding Layer with the extra calcium too young, they all work. And some of us feed Grower or Flock Raiser instead of Layer, especially when we have young chicks mixed in with a laying flock. We just offer oyster shell on the side for those that are laying and need the extra calcium for the egg shells.
There have been some studies that show feeding real high protein levels to a flock that will become laying hens can damage them, but we are talking about protein levels quite a bit higher than any I mentioned. 30% is the threshhold for internal damage that I have seen. As long as you don't get silly with it, you have a lot of flexibility in how you feed them.
and 1 Penedesenca.... also I would like to know how much to feed 5 chickens... because I am going to be adding 2 RIR's to my flock
and also.. at what age do you stop feeding chicks starter feed... and do you just feed them Layer/Scratch immediatly after Starter crumble.
