Graining Freedoms

[noahsark]

The frredoms are 3 weeks today, and doing great, turns out because of the postal mix up, i have on reg laying hen, mixed with the Freedom roos.It is shocking how small she is in comparison to them. I have them in a wood box in the gargae, last night it got down to 39..At what point dont they need their heat light anymore? Also, at what point, can I take them off the high protein crumble and grain them(wheat, corn, barley) I can get that for $5 for 50# so when I run out, of these first 2 bags, Id like to switch.Question 3, can they go out in a wire cage during the day yet?W/O a heat light? its been about 68-74
I am going to attach a picture on one the heritage and freedom , same age, side by side.

 

[TimG]

I suspect they would be fine without a heat lamp at this point even if it is getting down to 40 at night. I might play it safe and wait another week.

They should be fine outside in a wire cage, just make sure they have shade and water; too hot is a danger.

I don't know about the feed questions, but would expect them to be fine on grain even if you are compromising a bit on growth rate by reducing the protein.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

according to the research I have been doing, unless the barley is cracked and cooked it's not worth much to chickens as they have a hard time absorbing the different type of protien it has. I ignored that and bought a bag, it was a wasted 5.00. If you go with wheat the hard red has almost double the protien content as the soft white. Just corn and wheat are ot going to give enough protien for rapid growth (in case that is what you are after). I would suggest splitting you flock in half feeding one half the commercial feed and the other half corn and wheat and tracking your results.

as for taking the heat lamp out, I'm sure your FR will be fine, your little layer however may get squished at the bottom of a pile.

 

[noahsark]

By the way, all my fredoms look exactly like the ones pictured, do you think they are all tris?