mixed layer and starter feed

[leahpiah]

My sweet husband (who is not a chicken guy), in an effort to help out poured all my medicated starter feed into the can of my layer feed. I can kinda see where it is separated based upon the size of the chick crumble, but a lot of it got mixed. I don't want to dump all the feed and start over, so can I feed small amounts of the medicated starter crumble to my bigger girls? Also, the littles (about 3 weeks) may get trace amounts of layer crumble. Keep or ditch??

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You're probably OK. The medicated is a thiamine blocker so not a big deal. The chicks are a little more critical. Slightly elevated calcium levels for a short period are probably ok but they shouldn't get over 2% calcium for any length of time.
The starter is probably about 1% and the layer about 4%.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

You're probably OK. The medicated is a thiamine blocker so not a big deal. The chicks are a little more critical. Slightly elevated calcium levels for a short period are probably ok but they shouldn't get over 2% calcium for any length of time.
The starter is probably about 1% and the layer about 4%.

X 2 that you will probably be okay. If you are *really* concerned about it (the only concern for me would be the calcium and how much of a concern that would even be would depend on how much starter to how much layer was in the mix and how long it was going to take to feed through the total amount -- this would help me figure the actual likely calcium content and the length of exposure to decide if I was worried about the littles) you could just set this bunch aside for use when the younger birds are at an age where the calcium issue is no longer a concern (provided it was fed with supplemental calcium, ie oyster shell, to keep the intended intake amount there) and feed it then, purchasing some new feed, kept separate, to be fed in the meantime.

 

[Darnbunnies]

My sweet husband (who is not a chicken guy), in an effort to help out poured all my medicated starter feed into the can of my layer feed. I can kinda see where it is separated based upon the size of the chick crumble, but a lot of it got mixed. I don't want to dump all the feed and start over, so can I feed small amounts of the medicated starter crumble to my bigger girls? Also, the littles (about 3 weeks) may get trace amounts of layer crumble. Keep or ditch??

I did this to myself one dark and sleepy morning. The big girls thought the baby food was delightful. Ended up using a sieve\colander to sort out the baby food for a while then later used a Cuisinart to grind the lay pellets into small bits for the little girls. Oh, the things we do for our birdies. -DB

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

You could always simplify your life by feeding all of your birds a grower ration (ie flock raiser, etc.) at all time and having calcium available for intake by actively laying birds.

 

[leahpiah]

thanks all! I'm not worried about the part that is visibly different...thanks, I have a game plan now and it'll keep until I can get to the feed store again...