integrated chicks

[pattgal]

when your hen raises her chicks within the flock, How do you feed them their chick feed and feed the rest of the flock layer pellets?
Our December chicks got some chick starter in the nest box with the moma hen. the Hen would eat their food and so did all the other hens. it was very messy
...they never got grower in between, just went straight to pellets. (would that stunt their growth?) Now they are 4 months and the size of a guinea pig. (1/4 pound, lol)
their parents are:
EE X legorn
EE X red production hens
EE X EE

So they are not large breeds but not banties either. is their current size normal?

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I have chicks in with the laying flock, they all get either Starter or Grower. I offer oyster shells on the side so the ones that need it get the calcium and the others don't.

If the growing chicks get too much calcium, which they can from Layer, it can cause bone or kidney damage.

At 4 months (18 weeks), I would expect them to be about 80% to 90% the size of the adults. They'll get some taller but mostly just heavier. Leghorns are not all that big to start with. EE's can be a mix of anything so it is hard to even discuss a standard size for them.

 

[Judy]

What Ridgerunner said.