Layer feed?

[Sunnid7296]

My chickens are almost 20 weeks old. When should I start incorporating eggshells and giving them layer feed? They currently free range in the yard get lots of garden produce and greens.

Here are my breeds if that helps:

Cinnamon queen, olive egger. Rhode Island red and black wyandotte.

Im totally new to this and I've read varying articles online and they're all different some say 20 weeks some say 24 or even 28.

Were getting to fall soon and I know they won't lay very much in fall or winter.

Just wondering if I should mix now of course i just bought s big bag of chick food.

Thank you all so much!

 

[thecatumbrella]

Purchase some oyster shell and put a dish on the side for them. Any pullets that start to lay will take from it and get the calcium they need. You can keep everyone on chick feed forever, if you want to.

 

[OnlySympathy]

You don’t have to switch to layer feed. I have only ever fed all flock/chick starter with oyster shells on the side. If you do want to switch to layer feed, there is nothing wrong with it but I would recommend doing some research on it here, then wait until at least half of them but preferably all of them are laying before switching.

We’re getting to fall soon and I know they won't lay very much in fall or winter.

That isn’t always true for pullets. They do lay less but usually you will get something, at least for the majority of the fall/winter

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum, glad you joined!

Commercial operations carefully micromanage every bite they eat and how much daylight they get. We are typically much more relaxed about that. They feed Layer because that is all they ever eat and they are able to manage how much each one eats. Each bite contains a certain amount of ground limestone or oyster shell so they get exactly how much calcium they need for their age and eggshells when they start laying. By managing the daylight hours they know when their pullets will start laying.

We don't manage them that way. Light is generally natural, we do not know when they will start to lay. We often let them range for food at least part of the day and feed them various treats. A lot of us don't even feed Layer.

Of course everyone is different but we generally manage to get them the nutrition they need by offering them a feed that covers their basic nutrition needs other than calcium for eggshells and offer calcium supplements on the side so they can manage that as they need. If you look at the analysis on the label of your current feed your calcium levels should be in the 1% range. Layer should have calcium in the 4% range. We offer the calcium supplement on the side so they can manage the calcium themselves.

Since yours free range in the yard and get lots of garden produce and greens yours will probably need more calcium than they would get from Layer anyway. But they are also probably getting enough low-calcium food that the extra calcium in Layer will not hurt the ones that are not laying. If you really want to switch to Layer you can whenever you see your first egg.

I don't know where you are getting your eggshells. I don't know if you will have enough to keep up with calcium demand if all they get as a supplement is the eggshells they lay. If you feed Layer it probably will, especially if they pick up extra calcium when they are free ranging. But many of us offer oyster shell on the side just in case.

Good luck!