First egg!!!! But not all of them are laying..

[ChickyNicky05]

I didn’t know how to search for this so I started a new thread.. I’ve read that once your chicken lays it’s first egg you’re supposed to switch to layer feed, however, only one of my 3 chickens has laid an egg so far (found it 20 minutes ago!!!) Is it okay to keep feeding the finisher/grower to all 3 until they are all laying? I do not know which one laid the egg.

 

[auroaSfarm]

You can use layer feed, it just has different nutritional values than grower feed. Are all your chickens around the same age?

 

[Zinjifrah]

I believe this is the standard link for figuring out who laid the egg:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

If not, I'm sure someone else will chime in and provide it! Have you considered an All Flock feed?

 

[Killer Tomato]

Congrats on your first egg! That's always exciting. You can probably finish out that bag of feed, and start mixing in the new layer feed with it soon, if all your chickens are around the same age.

If you have any that are significantly younger (several weeks/months) then just stick with the grower feed, and put some oyster shells out for the new layers to gobble up, as needed. They'll figure it out. (hopefully)

 

[ChickyNicky05]

I believe they are all around the same age. I got them when they were about a week old from Tractor Supply. Two are definitely at the laying stage as they are submitting when i walk up to them, but one, Raven, has always been one to go on her own and wander off on her own. She has the smallest comb and does not submit when i go near her. She is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order too. We have a lot of our finisher feed left, but our ducks are just about to the age where they can have it, so i'll probably keep it to the side and buy a bag of layer for the chickens. Is the calcium content really the biggest difference between grower/finisher and layer? we use dumor brand right now but it's honestly not my favorite feed....

side question - I do want them on organic non-gmo feed for the next bag we buy and going forward - once we do stop feeding them the not-so-good commercial feed, can we consider our eggs to be organic/non-gmo? Or is the fact that they once had feed that may not have been the best exclude them from that category forever?

 

[PetesChicks]

I’m not sure on the organic question, but I assume they would be considered organic sooner or later.

I’d keep feeding the finisher/grower until it’s done, and offer oyster shell on the side for the calcium. I have stopped feeding layer altogether, and just use all-flock.

My littles (about 7 weeks old) are eating a mix of chick food & the all flock. I’m still filling the chick feeder with chick food, but they have access to the all-flock also and eat that as well. I’m filling the chick feeder less than half as often as I did when that was all they had access to.

 

[Cindy in PA]

To be certified organic they have to be fed organic from day 1. You can sell them as organically fed. Don't think you would be looking at certification anyway.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The organic rules state that once an animal, chicken or anything else, has eaten something not certified as organic the animal can never be considered certified organic. So as far as certified organic they are forever excluded. But I look at it as organic is a way of life, not a set of rigid rules. If you want to switch to organic feed there is nothing stopping you, you cannot claim them to be organic though.

You will get some differences of opinion as to when to switch Layer. Commercial operations switch at 18 weeks but they pretty much control when their chickens will start laying by manipulating light and feed. They make the days longer and increase the amount of protein in the feed to start laying. It's generally only a 1% change in protein levels, going from 15% to 16% protein. Genetics plays a big role in that also, theirs are bred to start laying at a certain age. Our chickens are not. That 18 week recommendation is based on the commercial flocks, not our backyard flocks. Still, a lot of people use it for backyard flocks and do OK.

The studies I've seen show that excess calcium is bad for growing chicks. I'm not sure how much excess calcium harms chickens that have pretty much stopped growing. Some people think it is a lot but others don't worry about it and generally do OK. To me starting them on Layer when they start to lay is not a horrible thing but I don't do it. I almost always have growing chicks in my flock so I feed everyone the same low-calcium feed and offer oyster shell on the side. That way the ones that need it for egg shells eat it while the others don't eat enough to harm themselves.

If you look at the label on a bag of feed you should see the analysis. This shows you the percent of certain essential components of feed in that bag: protein, calcium, fats, fiber, salt, and a few other things. In the labels I've seen all the components are pretty close to the same except calcium and protein. There are some variations but they are pretty minor. As far as I'm concerned you can fee your flock any of them as long as you pay attention to calcium and protein. But check the labels, especially if you go organic you may be using a feed I'm not familiar with.

 

[rosemarythyme]

We have a lot of our finisher feed left, but our ducks are just about to the age where they can have it, so i'll probably keep it to the side and buy a bag of layer for the chickens. Is the calcium content really the biggest difference between grower/finisher and layer? we use dumor brand right now but it's honestly not my favorite feed....

side question - I do want them on organic non-gmo feed for the next bag we buy and going forward - once we do stop feeding them the not-so-good commercial feed, can we consider our eggs to be organic/non-gmo? Or is the fact that they once had feed that may not have been the best exclude them from that category forever?

I would use up the grower/finisher feed you already have and just put out oyster shell on the side for the chicken that is laying.

And as others above have noted, your chickens will never be able to lay certified organic eggs because you didn't raise them organically from the start. This doesn't just apply to their feed, but even the land you have them foraging on. If you are not selling eggs and they're just for your own consumption, then the label doesn't really matter as long as you're satisfied with how the eggs were produced.

 

[ChickyNicky05]

Today a second hen started laying! However she laid three soft shell eggs.... I purchased oyster shells but they aren’t actually consuming them, just picking them up and dropping them.... could they just be too big of pieces? They seem sort of large in my opinion I don’t think I’ve seen my girls eat anything hard and solid that size