Need advise on switching to grow feed

[First time Chick mom]

We have 5- 12 week (Starlight EE) old and 4- 6 week old (BO SLW) chicks. Three of the 12 week old are cockerels (which we are rehoming in a couple of weeks, thankfully we found them a new home). I was told I need to switch them from chick food to grow feed. The protein is too high and cause problems later in their life. What do you all recommend, should I start integrating grow feed with both or just the 12 week olds? I have been trying to wait until I get the hens use to the new chicks, before we take the cockerels to their new home. My new chicks are in the run (separate pen) and in the coop also separate, to get them use to each other. My alpha cockerel (twice the size of other two) seems to play guard with the younger chicks, not sure which group is protecting. LOL Considering I had one of the smaller cockerel bit at one of the little chicks, I will not let them together until the cockerels are rehomed and become closer in size to the hens. Please chime in if I am doing something wrong. I welcome all advise. I just don't want my girls to be alone (just the two of them).

 

[Sally PB]

I am feeding my chicks Kalmbach starter feed, which is 20% protein. I feed my hens and rooster Kalmbach Flock Maker, which is also 20% protein. I have oyster shell and crushed egg shell on the side for the laying hens. They are not integrated yet, so it's easy to feed the two flocks different feed.

When this bag of Flock Maker is gone, everyone will get the starter feed until the chicks are about 15 weeks old. Then they'll all transition to Flock Maker.

The protein is too high and cause problems later in their life.

Do you have a source for that information? What kinds of problems might they have? My adult birds have been on 20% protein feed for their entire lives, either as chick feed or a flock maker/flock raiser feed. (Different brands have different names for the same type of feed.) So far, all my birds are doing well.

I avoid "Layer" formula feed because it has (much) less protein and too much calcium for a rooster. The 16% protein is about the minimum that commercial operations have determined that hens need to lay eggs. If they could do it on less protein, they would. At their scale, even slight differences add up to huge profits.

 

[Tonyroo]

Who told you the protein is to high? They need high level of protein as there growing and molting 3 times in there juvenile phase of life. Plus it helps there internal organs to develop properly.

 

[First time Chick mom]

I read it on the Happy Chicken Coop, The complete guide to chicken feed:

Grower feed has slightly less protein at around 18%. You may think this is not a big difference, but an overload of protein can cause kidney problems later in life.
It got me a little worried, because I still have my 12 week olds on chick crumble.

 

[Tonyroo]

It's over load of calcium in the growth stage that does that.

 

[Tonyroo]

Well follow your instincts I'm sure it will guide you to proper management.

 

[coach723]

I feed my entire flock an 18% feed all the time. New chicks get one bag of chick starter and then I switch them to a flock raiser or grower. When I can't find an all flock feed, my older birds sometimes get chick starter/grower, in the 18-20% range. I have never had a problem with too much protein. I don't use layer feed at all because I have roosters and older birds that don't need the extra calcium. I also find my birds seem to do better on the higher protein.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I read it on the Happy Chicken Coop, The complete guide to chicken feed:

Grower feed has slightly less protein at around 18%. You may think this is not a big difference, but an overload of protein can cause kidney problems later in life.
It got me a little worried, because I still have my 12 week olds on chick crumble.

How to feed chickens is better studied than how to feed any critter on earth. Even better studied than how to feed humans. There are enough similarities, in fact, that chickens are sometimes used study nutrition related disease in humans. BUT. You can take it too far.

We humans tend to eat more protein than we actually need. Much more, often roughly double our needs (self DEFINITELY included). Our bodies, largely through the kidneys, break the excess proteins down and store parts of them as carbs or fats. and thus, high protein diets in humans, particularly humans with compromised kidneys, can be a big problem.

The same is true, in theory, of chickens. Why do those of us in the know recommend feeding your chickens an all flock/flock raiser at 18-20% protien all their lives anyways??? Because UNLIKE us humans, chickens raised on a balanced chicken feed get only a teeny tiny bit more than they might need - in an effort to ensure they get enough of certain amino acids they can't get any other way (Methionine and Lysine, primarily).

In order for that bit of human wisdom to be applicable to chickens, chickens would need to eat much more protein than they actually need, say 30-40% protein feed. And there are very few studies that have looked at just that as a way to evaluate the conditions in humans. Nobody feeds their chickens that way. You can't buy 40% protein chicken feed off the shelf, if you could, it would be rediculously expensive, there's no practical benefit to it (law of diminishing returns), a huge downside (cost), and some small long term concerns (of which potential kidney damage is but one symptom), and some more immediate concerns of moderate severity - primarily extra nitrogen in the excretions, meanin more ammonia in the coop. OTOH, there are small but measurable benefits in chickens on a 20% CP diet as opposed to 16% CP - even layers.

More critical than CP alone is the AA profile, but that's probably further into the weeds than you want (or need) to go.