Grower vs Layer Feed . . . when do you make the switch

[cap1717]

Quote:
I'm a "newbie" myself, with chickens, but have learned a lot over the past 5 months. . . .I buy feed from our local independent feed store in bulk, by the pound. I also free range the chooks during the day, lock them in their coop / run combo at night. I also feed cooked oatmeal, grapes, corn, kale, lettuce and other greens, tomatoes, etc. They love peanuts and just about take my fingers off getting to them. . . . this is a great place to learn.

 

[Judy]

20 weeks is a little late, in my opinion. I wounder if he would have changed that if you told him your 18 week pullets were laying. Best time to start feeding layer is probably a week or 10 days before they lay the first egg. Trouble is, of course, we don't know when the first egg will come. One way to do it is to switch (or start mixing if you have feed left) when the pullets' combs and wattles redden up, since that usually means eggs are coming soon. Feed store employees tend to be poor sources of information.

Grit and oyster shell should be offered separately. Some chickens seem to need a lot more calcium supplement than others so this lets them take what they want. Actually, they should be fine on a grower feed with oyster shell on the side, even after they are laying; this is how you feed a mixed age flock of layers and immature chicks. Limit the extra kitchen scraps, etc. to about 10% of their diet. And don't worry how much they eat free ranging; I have one flock that mostly eats what they find, and not much of the feed.

I store my feed in galvanized garbage cans, which keeps it dry, and prevents coons and rats getting into it. Some on here use plastic, but I have seen critters chew through plastic. A few bugs in the feed won't hurt anything, and you will probably see some at times. But if it is really infested, that mans a lot of the nutrition is gone, and replaced by bug poo. 2 cups of DE mixed into 50 lbs. of feed will wipe out bugs. Freezing the feed will, too.

 

[ebeller]

Hi there,

I am new to this chicken hobby and afraid that I have done something wrong... My chicks are 22 weeks and haven't started laying a single pullet egg. I have them on developer/grower feed, but will switch over to layer feed today. I am also extending their light in the evening, keeping a light on until 8pm. Will get oyster shells as well. Any tips for how to start their egg production? Thanks!

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
Mine are only at 14 weeks, but I have read numerous times on here that some don't begin laying until as late as 30 weeks even

 

[dsqard]

From what I have read on here it is OK to continue to feed them grower/finisher food even after they start laying but just offer oyster shell free choice. Many people on here have mixed age flocks and only feed the grower/finisher feed. The youngsters that don't need the extra calcuim won't touch the oyster shell and the layers will eat it as needed. The main thing is to take them off medicated grower (if you are using it) well before they start laying. It was suggested to me to take them off the medicated food around 8 weeks. I mix my layer food with game bird finisher to give them the extra protien and offer oyster shell.

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
There is nothing you can do to start their egg production. They have to get physically mature before they will lay. It is all up to mother nature. I have pullets that are almost 9 months old that are not laying yet. It is OK though since I have read on many threads that the older they are when they start laying, the less likely they are to have reproductive problems like internal laying. I can wait, the store always has eggs if I run out

 

[woodmort]

With a flock of mixed breeds and ages it is best to let the chickens tell you when to put them on layer not a book or the guy at the feed store--not all breeds and individuals start laying at the same time. Actually they will do very well on grower or flock raiser with supplemented oyster shell. Here's what I do, you're free to copy it or not but it works here. I have April and May hatched birds of mixed breeds (see below) some of whom started laying in September, some in October and some--the EE's-- are just starting. I put out oyster shell in September for those first birds and have been filling the container plus feeding Purina Flock Raiser since then--I took them off grower in September. As I'm now finding a few blue/green eggs it means the EE's are starting so I will mix the last of my flock raiser with layer pellets starting Dec. 1st. I'll also continue with the oyster shell only because I have some left. Once the flock raiser and oyster shell run out, I won't buy more.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

When I see the first eggs I begin to phase in the layer ration (if I'm going to use one). Not a sudden change, but slowly mixing in more and more layer feed until the grower is used up.

If they're not laying yet there's no point in feeding layer ration even if they are thirty weeks old.

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
Does this mean you will switch to a layer feed such as Layena at that point? Thanks

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I went with "when I ran out" method.

Actually I never bought a grower feed as the supply store said we'd need 50 lbs of starter for 6 birds which I thought was ecessive, it was. So to use it up I mixed in scratch at a ratio to end with 14% protein when 10 weeks of age. When that was running low I purchased layer mix and blended some of it with scratch again to end with 14%. When that ran out it went to straight layer mix at 19 weeks as I was out of scratch. My first started laying at 23 weeks. So it was all a gradual turn over of feed type as each was blended into the last just to use up feed.