Is Turkey Grower ok for mixed age chicken flock?

[Joe.G]

Hi, I picked up a bag of Blue Seal Turkey Grower, is that ok for my mixed age chicken flock? I have a group of 5 week olds, a group of 16 weeks olds, and a group of 1.5 year old along with one rooster in thew older group. It is in Pellet form.

 

[chicken pickin]

They should probably be on a chicken grower not a turkey grower. Blue seal makes one for chickens called Grower Cal and it comes in pellet form its for chickens 8-20weeks of age or fed until first egg. This is fine for all those stages I would just offer oyster shells on the side for the older hens who need the extra calcium for egg making.

 

[mandelyn]

The Turkey grower has 20% protein, while the Grower Cal has 15% protein. The Turkey grower will be fine for all of them, but set out some oyster shell for the active layers. The extra protein will be good for those in molt, or who is growing still.

If you actually had turkeys, you'd want something with 26% protein or so. Those birds need a lot more protein than a chicken. I was surprised to see the grower from Blue Seal had only 20% for Turkeys. That means there is no wiggle room for adding scratch grains, it would reduce the protein intake too much.

Most layer feeds have 16% protein, most starters/growers have 20%.

When molt comes around for older birds, they need a bump in protein to get through it more easily. That's starting around this time of year for a lot of birds, and it starts before you see the feathers everywhere, since it starts internally. It's suggested to add a grower/starter/game bird mix to the layer ration for birds in molt.

 

[Joe.G]

I always have a feeder with grit and one with oyster shells out for them, SO the Blue seal turkey grower has less Protein then most, I can't find the blue seal chicken grower in Pellet around here only mash or crumble. So thats why I got the turkey grower.