Is it Bad if My Younger Chickens Eat the Older Chickens' food?

[musicalchicken]

Our 8 week old chickens eat the older chickens' food sometimes. We have a tub where the younger ones can go under and get their own food. We just ran out of the their food and I was wondering if i should just let them eat the older chickens' food or continue to give them their food. I am also wondering if it is bad that the younger ones are not constantly eating their own food. What should I do?

 

[Judy]

Chicks under 16 to 18 weeks should never eat layer feed because the high calcium content will damage their organs. Feed all of them something else, a grower feed or flock raiser. If you start getting thin shells you can put out some oyster shell in a separate dish for the laying hens.

http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=36

 

[Skye727]

Is it ok for the laying hens not to have layer feed? I have chicks that haven't gone in with the big girls yet. They are all getting separate feed right now. But later it will be a problem.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Is it ok for the laying hens not to have layer feed? I have chicks that haven't gone in with the big girls yet. They are all getting separate feed right now. But later it will be a problem.

It's perfectly fine for laying hens to not have layer feed.

The downside is that if you keep it up too long, you'll start having thin shelled eggs, and then they'll stop laying - unless you supplement with oyster shell or something along those lines.


There are a lot of people out there who just feed a general flock feed, and supplement with shell, and don't feed layer at all. Some people prefer their roosters/drakes/ganders to not get the extra calcium.