is baby feed just ground up laying pellets?

[DobieLover]

naturally and off laying pellets thats how much they lay. its their period so it happens every month like that. i'll keep you updated on my hen's period schedule if youd like.

You came here for advice. You've gotten lots of good advice.
If you don't want to believe any of us about how a CHICKEN'S body works, please do your pullet a huge favor and go out on that there world wide web and research their natural biology yourself. Because if you don't, your poor pullet will suffer.
No one is trying to be mean to you here. We are all trying to help. But it seems you don't want to listen.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

It would be better to check the % of nutrients than the ingredient list. The layer feed will have more calcium and less protein...

What I am saying is that the ingredients in both laying pellets and the ingredients in chick starter are basically the same. An 18% protein all flock feed only has a little more Soymeal and no limestone than laying pellets do is one major difference. There are other small differences but this gives you the idea.

 

[Melky]

Chick starter is maybe 90% the same as lay pellets. But I doubt that laying pellets will harm a baby chick regardless of what you have heard or been told. Try this, the next time that you go to the feed store look at the tags on the chicken feed and compare the lay pellets to the chick starter. You'll find that they are both mostly the same ingredients.
Baby food like strained peas, carrots, or spinach are at the end of the day still peas, carrots, and spinach.

I think one major difference that is important is the protein. Babies should be on 20% medicated feed starter or starter grower until about 8 weeks then can wean. By laying stage they are at about 16% protein with increased calcium. The protein difference is important for growth in young birds or they may not grow at proper rate. This can impact their long term health and laying.

 

[Melky]

naturally and off laying pellets thats how much they lay. its their period so it happens every month like that. i'll keep you updated on my hen's period schedule if youd like.

I don’t know about a monthly period schedule but hens make an egg every 25 hours. They also have different laying rates per breed. Some 2-3, 3-4, or 5 plus eggs per week.

 

[Kat2141]

My red sex links lay pretty much daily. They may take off 1 or 2 days a month. Maybe they are just overachievers.

 

[chuckachucka]

naturally and off laying pellets thats how much they lay. its their period so it happens every month like that. i'll keep you updated on my hen's period schedule if youd like.

Not to be mean but this is incorrect. A human woman ovulates mid cycle and her period is not when she releases an egg. A chicken has no period because they do not carry their embyroes to term inside their bodies, they let the eggs and shells do the work outside the body once laid. The eggs the lay contain an ovum with their half of the DNA required to make a baby. If not connected to the other half from a rooster via fertilisation no embryo will develop.

Now a human woman releases (usually) only one ovum per cycle because a normal human pregnancy is one embryo. For a chicken a normal 'birth' is 10-15 chicks for many reasons. So they need to lay those 10-15 as fast as possible to start sitting on them and get them developing because fertile eggs don't wait forever once they are laid. A healthy young pullet or hen who has been laying for a while will usually lay every day or every other day with an occasional day's break. The natural way would be for them to quit laying and brood once they have laid these 15 or so eggs...
HOWEVER chickens are a domesticated species who have been selectively bred from jungle fowl ancestors for hundreds of years until many breeds don't have this hormonal system in place to stop them laying after so few eggs. Most chickens will lay a lot more than 15 before they brood and some will never brood at all. This is because their reproductive systems don't know when to take a break but there is nothing you can do to force them to take a break. The eggs will be released from the ovary regardless of diet until they are so ill or old that their systems start to fail.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

i do have one but she stays with me 24/7. ive shown her other chicks from my cousin's house but since she was raised on her own i dont think she likes other chicks very much ... she sees people as her flock now.
i dont want her on laying pellets because i dont want her laying an abnormal amount of eggs since chickens are only supposed to lay one or two every month.

You are not her flock, she needs other chickens. What are you going to do when she goes out to the coop, go sleep outside?
I really think you should either re-home her or get more chickens. Anything else is just selfish.

Gary

 

[EggWalrus]

I'm beginning to think we have a Serial Troll on BYC. I've notice over the last few weeks a rash of threads where the op asks a good question but in a stupid way. Then they fight every single bit of common sense advise given by any one. The thread about a chicken living indoors Fulltime. 14 yo girl asked advice, didn't like what she heard, claims she is gonna make the chicken house broke and human. Went on over 8 pages. The OP would have stopped responding and let thread die if she (or he) wasnt a troll, instead, troll strung it out for their fun.
Now we get this girl(?). Makes some outlandish statements after baiting people up with an important subject. Is bound and determined to not take advise after asking for it.
This girl(?) may be serious and really needs help with chicken husbandry, but the whole thing just smells of Trolls.
That or op may just be a child lacking mental maturity to keep chicken(s). Hopefully a parent is there to take care of the poor bird. If op isn't a troll.
JMO

 

[PouleChick]

Really interested to hear where you have found out your knowledge. I hope you are able to take on board the very correct and clear replies you have had both about what you are planning to feed the poor animal and how bad it is for a chicken to live without other chickens. I would honestly suggest giving your cousin your chick if you are unable (due to your beliefs about what she should be doing) to feed your chicken properly.

 

[SilberHenne]

naturally and off laying pellets thats how much they lay. its their period so it happens every month like that. i'll keep you updated on my hen's period schedule if youd like.

I found an article explaining chicken cycles for you. I have black sex links that I love like family. They are amazing! They do lay lots of eggs, and will lay an egg a day until they have a full clutch. If your hen goes broody she will stop laying eggs after she has a full nest, but BSL typically don't care to be mothers and will just keep laying eggs and leaving them all spring and summer. If you want her to not lay so many eggs, reduce her daytime hours to trick her body into thinking it is winter.


An overview of the female chicken reproductive system helps explain why hens lay eggs in clutches. The reproductive system of a chicken hen is made up of two parts: the ovary and the oviduct. Ova (yolks) develop in the ovary. When an ovum (singular of ova) has matured, it is released from the ovary into the oviduct. This release of the ovum is ovulation. In the oviduct, glands secrete substances that form other parts of the egg, such as the albumen (egg white) and the shell. The total time a hen's body takes to transform a yolk into a fully developed egg and lay that egg is about 25 to 26 hours. Typically, about 30 to 75 minutes after a hen lays an egg, the ovary releases the next ovum. However, the female chicken reproductive system is sensitive to light exposure, especially the number of hours of light in a day. In chicken hens, ovulation usually occurs under normal daylight conditions and almost never after 3:00 p.m. So, when a hen lays an egg too late in the day, the next ovulation occurs the following day, and the hen has a day when it does not lay an egg.