I have 4 nine week old chicks and a 6 month old pullet. The 6 month old pullet is currently in quarantine so it's no big deal to feed them different things. But when I eventually have them all together I was planning on feeing them a Flock Feed and provide oyster shell as I have seen recommended so often on here. I figure by the time they are all together thy will be 3+ and 7+ months old. When I went into Tractor Supply today I found Purina's Flock Feeder. But the folks at Tractor supply said that wouldn't work. What am I missing? Is there a guideline on how much protein and other nutrients should be in a flock feed and then how much additional calcium a layer needs?
http://poultry.purinamills.com/OURPRODUCTS/Products/FlockRaiser/default.aspx This is 20% protein and is fine to use with oyster shell on the side for layers. Layer feed is generally 16% protein. I personally use unmedicated chick starter as a base for my layer feed, mixing in other things and keeping the protein level around 15% for my layers. So you can also use unmed. chick starter with oyster shell on the side. Teenage chickens benefit from a 17% protein level, it is thought, to prevent a too-fast reproductive development, I have read. So in other words, it it thought that grower feed is best for 8 weeks until point of lay, and you can feed that to layers as long as you have oyster shell for them. So there are three possibilities here that I have mentioned, and if you want to feed the Flock Raiser and decrease the protein level some you can give some scratch (keep under 10% of the total feed) which would help with that. There are so many ways to feed.
Quote: Never assume that because they WORK there, they actually KNOW anything about what they sell. Most of them have no clue, but they won't let that stop them from giving advice
There's nothing wrong with using Flock Raiser in your situation. I used it for years with my birds, from day olds up to the older layers/roosters. All did well on it.
