I have 4 bantams that are 15 weeks old, and 4 asstd standards that are 10 weeks old, and nine 5 week old standards. We are getting closer to laying age with the bantams, so I was wondering how you feed such a various aged group?? They are all finishing up a large bag of chick feed that I had, and then I was thinking grower feed??
I go with flockraiser or gamebird feed and put oyster shell out free choice for the laying hens. Works great here.
I'm feeding grower/finisher feed to everybody, and I have three groups of chickens at different ages. I also put out crushed oyster shell free choice (it's in a tuna can I nailed to an inside wall of the coop where the layers sleep). I WILL have a fourth group joining the others in a couple of weeks - the youngest group will be 8 wks old and coming out of the brooder. That way they all get the same feed and the layers take the oyster shell for calcium as they need it. (There was a couple of days of soft-shelled eggs from a couple of the layers a while after I stopped giving them layer feed, but then they discovered the oyster shell. Also, for the first couple of weeks of this change, I would toss some oyster shell bits into the run when only the layers were in that section.)
I have chickens and ducks and they have seperate areas they prefer to eat at in the AM, but when ti comes to snacking in the middle of day they all pile on me at the same time at the back door...I started using flockraiser - its easier to deal with when you ahve ducks, laying hens, and chicks/ducklings. Just let the adult birds have access to oyster shell for added calcium. Me I add a higher protien food mix in with my ducks' morning food since they do need a bit more protein than the chickens do. But flockerraiser is my new best friend!
You could feed them all a Starter/ Grower, Grower/ Finisher, Game Bird Feed, Flocker Raiser But I believe Flock Raiser contains no animal protein, A alternative to Flock Raiser would be - Buckeye feeds Big 4 (Contains Animal protein) Kent Feeds Home Fresh Multi-Flock (Contains Animal protein) Mana Pro Game Bird/ Show Bird (Contains Animal protein) Land-O-Lakes Duck and Goose Chris
Quote:I do the same thing & have for years. Solved to who gets what feed & when to change feeds problem. There's only one feed-very simple. Another advantage is the birds do better on the higher protein grower feeds. Just add some Oyster shell when they start to lay. Yes, the Oyster shell is bad for the young birds-rough on their kidneys.
i just feed mine the feed that is best for the youngest.. right now i have 3 week olds and four 1 year old phoenix all eat starter feed..
