How to feed different age chickens in the same coop

[girard78]

ok so I have 6 laying hens that eat a laying feed, I also have 8, 12 week sold chicks that eat a grower feed. I want to combine them before the 12 weeks old are ready for the laying feed. Should I just give all the chickens the grower feed? or both?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Change everyone over to grower feed or an all flock in pellet form. When birds are large enough (10-12 weeks) my entire flock goes from non medicated starter to turkey finisher as it's in pellet form. Less waste with pellets. Once your dealing with multi aged birds every year and birds molting you stop using layer feed all together. There is such a small window of opportunity to use it in a year anymore. Supply oyster shell or some other calcium supplement free choice. Either a dedicated dish or toss a few handfuls on the ground once or twice a week. All the birds will peck at it but only the birds in need of calcium will eat a lot of it. Voila, the birds actually laying that need it get it. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Non medicated starter for entire flock when you've got chicks and an all flock feed like turkey/gamebird finisher once the youngest are big enough to eat pellet. Oyster shell is sold in bulk bins at your local feed store. You or they scoop into a plastic bag how much you want. I get 8-10 lbs of it at a time, use maybe 15-20 lbs a year depending how many layers I have. 25-35 cents a pound. Cheaper than some dirt.