Food in winter?

[L2fly]

Hi all, my three young ladies (will be 1 yr old in April) has decided the days are too short for laying now. They were giving us at least an egg a day until about a month ago.

I was feeding them layer pellets and now its time to buy new feed, but I'm wondering if I should keep them on layer or switch to an all-flock until they start laying again? Do they need the extra calcium when not laying?

TIA!

 

[sumi]

If they are not actively laying they do not need the extra calcium and would do fine on an "all flock" feed instead. Hens store up some calcium in their bodies for egg shell production, so you can wait until you start seeing eggs before feeding layer feed again.

 

[L2fly]

Do you think its better to switch them? They are picky eaters, I'm wondering if it might be best to keep them on the layer food they are used to?

 

[sumi]

I think it's better to switch their food. My hens, unless they are laying, loves and prefer feed other than their layer pellets, so yours should too. You can play it safe maybe and buy a small amount first to see how things go.

 

[jthornton]

I'm new to raising chickens but I've read here in other posts that many feed all flock all the time and offer oyster shells on the side for those that need the extra calcium. Chickens know what they need to eat unlike humans.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/crushed-oyster-shells-how-to-feed.123988/
JT

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Switch.
But you can mix the layer and grower/all flock together half and half so you use up the layer before it gets too old.
A 50:50 mix will give a net of 2.5% calcium. That's acceptable for the time being.